Apartment REITs seen at a crossroads
Hot sector may be headed for a fall, some say
Apartment REITs have been on a tear this year, but red flags have started to appear, and there are signs that the group's high-speed run may soon hit road bumps — or possibly even a blowout — in the months ahead.
As of Thursday's market close, the group generated total returns, including dividends, of 13.5% on average, outpacing equity REITs' 1.4% return and the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index's reading of -15.8%, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts in Washington.
An equity real estate investment fund, or equity REIT, is a security that sells like a stock on the major exchanges and owns, buys or develops real estate directly.
Up until now, apartment REITs have been reaping the benefits of the battered homeownership market as more renters have been staying put in their apartments instead of buying homes. Also, steady access to cheap debt from mortgage giants Fannie Mae of Washington and Freddie Mac of McLean, Va., has kept apartment REITs insulated from the deepening credit crisis.
"Apartments have benefited from the housing crisis because people have to have a place to live," said John Good, an attorney in the Memphis, Tenn., office of Bass Berry & Sims PLC of Nashville, Tenn. "As foreclosures increase and residential mortgage credit continues to be exceptionally tight, it helps the apartment sector."
However, surging gas and commodity prices, widening spreads on Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac debt and rising unemployment are starting to take a toll on some apartment REITs, making it tougher for them to raise rents or access cash for new developments in order to grow.
At the same time, rising foreclosures and falling home prices could start to make home buying attractive again — which would hurt apartment rents and occupancy levels even more.
"Fundamentals are still healthy, but some negative data is emerging," said Andy McCulloch, an analyst at Green Street Advisors Inc., a REIT research firm based in Newport Beach, Calif.
SUBSIDIES DRYING UP
Mr. McCulloch, who in February had recommended investors overweight their portfolios with apartment REITs, has now cut that recommendation to equal weight.
The sector is "approaching a crossroads," he said. "Apartments no longer look cheap compared to other property sectors."
Publicly traded apartment REITs posted healthy revenue growth of 3.3% and net-operating-income increases of 4.5% on average in the second quarter, Mr. McCulloch said. However, he noted, a number of companies indicated they were having a tough time raising rents on lease rollovers and many have ratcheted down their guidance for the second half of the year.
The biggest red flags are coming from REITs outside the boom-and-bust housing markets.
"It was the first quarter where there was weakness from the demand side, outside the typical housing bubble markets," Mr. McCulloch said.
Indeed, up until now, most of the country's job losses came from housing-related industries — such as home construction and mortgage lending — that affected bubble markets such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and cities in Florida and California the most.
"Those markets got hit harder because they lost so much of that employment growth that was specifically tied to housing," he said.
But in the latest quarter, job losses and rising commodity prices started affecting other markets.
For example, Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc., a Memphis-based REIT that targets lower-rent markets, posted a weaker-than-expected quarter.
"Four-dollar-a-gallon gas, higher commodity prices for necessities — whether it be your milk, your eggs or your bread — are going to affect people at that rent level first, and that's what you're seeing," Mr. McCulloch said.
"They saw a sharper drop-off in pricing power in the second quarter."
At the same time, apartments REITs no longer have access to the easy, cheap debt that they had been tapping through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
"There's always been this subsidy for the apartment guys," he said. "But that differential between what the apartment guys can borrow and what the other sectors can borrow has definitely closed up a bit."
David Toti, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in New York, said he expects apartment debt-financing spreads to continue to widen. "Debt costs have jumped to over 6% from just over 5% at the beginning of the year, with spreads widening back over [two percentage points]," he wrote in a recent note.
Most apartment REITs are projecting a "pretty material slowdown in the second half of the year," Mr. McCulloch said.
'SHADOW SPACE'
Steven Marks, an analyst at Fitch Ratings Ltd. in New York, views the sector "cautiously" and believes that "shadow space" — unsold single-family homes and condominiums that are now being rented and therefore compete directly with apartment buildings for tenants — will likely dampen demand.
In a note, he said he expects apartment fundamentals to weaken slightly over the remainder of 2008.
Mr. Good said apartment owners will likely have a tougher time raising rents.
"Anytime you have an economy that has inflation on one hand and a slowdown in business growth on the other, with job losses, it's hard for anybody, including landlords, to raise prices," he said.
Mr. Good does, however, expect occupancy to remain stable. He doesn't see a mad rush of renters chasing after cheap foreclosed homes or jumping suddenly into the homeownership market.
"Yes, you can buy houses on the cheap, but most people don't have enough cash in their pocket to go pay cash for it, and credit is still tight," Mr. Good said.
The tougher lending standards, negative sentiment surrounding the collapsing housing market and the worsening economy have prevented renters from moving into the homeownership market.
"The percentage of families planning to purchase in the next six months is at a 16-year low," Mr. McCulloch said.
However, with rents rising faster than income levels, and home prices steadily declining, he said, renting has become less compelling.