U.S. equity REITs saw average short interest fall 18 basis points during the first half of March, reaching 3.44% of outstanding shares.

Office REIT Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. posted the largest jump in short interest relative to shares outstanding among SNL-covered equity REITs between Feb. 28 and March 15. The percentage of the company's shares held short relative to shares outstanding increased 480 basis points to 6.89% as of March 15.

Shopping center REIT Regency Centers Corp. was the equity REIT with the steepest decrease in short interest in the first half of March. The company saw short interest decline 480 basis points to 2.39% of shares outstanding at the end of the period.

Seritage Growth Properties topped the list of most shorted REITs during the period. The shopping center REIT saw short interest rise 179 basis points to 30.11% of shares outstanding.