US REIT capital offerings nosedive 85% month-on-month in August

Editor's note: This article is published monthly with current data as available.

US equity real estate investment trust capital market activity fell sharply in August as the industry raised a total of $702.3 million for the month, an 85% decline from the $4.68 billion collected in July and just about half of the $1.42 billion secured a year earlier.

Of the total, $500 million came through debt offerings. Common equity offerings accounted for $194.7 million, while the remaining $7.6 million was obtained through preferred equity offerings, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

NNN REIT collects the most capital

Single-tenant net lease retail-focused NNN REIT Inc. brought in the largest amount of capital during the month, pulling in $500 million through an offering of senior debt due 2033. The company intends to use the net proceeds to repay all outstanding debt under the REIT's credit facility, to fund future property acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.

Diversified REIT Safehold Inc. followed with a total of $151.9 million through two common stock offerings. Manufactured home-focused UMH Properties Inc. also collected roughly $41.6 million since quarter-end through Aug. 1 from the sales of both common and preferred stock through its at-the-market offering program.

– Set email alerts for future Data Dispatch articles. – Access a spreadsheet listing the offerings completed year to date in 2023 by publicly listed US equity real estate investment trusts. – For further capital offerings research, try the global real estate capital offerings activity template.

As of Aug. 31, the single-largest common equity issuance year to date came through Welltower Inc.'s at-the-market offering program. Through July, Welltower raised about $2.17 billion through its common stock at-the-market program. Communications-focused Uniti Group Inc.'s $2.60 billion offering, which wrapped up Feb. 2, remained the largest debt offering completed year to date.

At $5.51 billion, telecom tower-focused American Tower Corp. has raised the most capital year to date, followed by industrial REIT Prologis Inc. at $5.37 billion.

Specialty REITs amass most capital offerings YTD

The offerings in August brought the year-to-date total to $42 billion, 14.7% higher than the capital raised during the same period in 2022.

The specialty sector — including advertising, casino, communications, datacenter, energy infrastructure, farmland and timber real estate — accounted for the largest share of total capital raised thus far in 2023 with $14.47 billion. The industrial sector came in second at $7.10 billion, followed by the retail sector at $6.39 billion.