US REIT average short interest down 18 bps in November

Average short interest in U.S. equity real estate investment trusts fell 18 basis points to 3.1% of shares outstanding as of Nov. 30, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Advertising, farmland sectors see largest declines

The advertising sector had the biggest drop in average short interest in November, declining 95 basis points from the previous month to 3.7% of shares outstanding as of Nov. 30.

Advertising REIT OUTFRONT Media Inc. largely contributed to the drop, as the company's short interest relative to shares outstanding plunged 1.9 percentage points to 5.1% as of November-end, the second largest decline across all U.S. REITs.

Short interest of Lamar Advertising Co. barely moved during the month, ending Nov. 30 at 2.3% of shares outstanding sold short.

Following the advertising sector, farmland REITs saw their average short interest drop 50 basis points to 2.8% of shares outstanding. The regional mall segment experienced the third-biggest plunge with a 38-basis-point fall in average short interest, to 7.0% of its shares outstanding.

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On the other hand, the casino sector logged a 15-basis-point hike in average short interest to 2.7% of shares outstanding as of Nov. 30, the biggest increase across all property types. The "other retail" segment, which includes outlet center, single-tenant and other retail REITs, followed with a 13-basis-point hike to 3.8% of outstanding shares.

Top REITs by change in short interest

Office-focused Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. had the largest fall in short interest by November-end, with a 2.3-percentage-point drop to 1.1% of its shares outstanding.

Meanwhile, single-tenant REIT Getty Realty Corp. saw a 5.1-percentage-point hike in short interest to 7.5% of its shares outstanding, the biggest gain across all U.S. REITs in November.

Most shorted REITs

Regional mall REIT Pennsylvania REIT was still the most shorted U.S. REIT stock, with 860,690 shares sold short as of Nov. 30, or 16.0% of its shares outstanding. Single-tenant retail REIT NETSTREIT Corp. and healthcare-focused Medical Properties Trust Inc. followed, with short interests at 14.0% and 13.1% of shares outstanding, respectively.