Blackstone Infusion • Jobs Week • REIT Dividend Hike

January 2, 2023 | Hoya Capital

Blackstone Infusion • Jobs Week • REIT Dividend Hike Real Estate Daily Recap Jan 3 Written By U.S. equity markets declined Tuesday- a choppy start to 2023 following the worst year for markets in a decade- while benchmark interest rates retreated ahead of a critical slate of employment data. Coming off declines of nearly 20% last year, the S&P 500 slipped by 0.4% today while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dipped 0.7% after plunging by over 30% in 2022.

Real estate equities started the year on the right foot, however, with the Equity REIT Index finishing higher by 0.1% today with 10-of-18 property sectors in positive territory. Blackstone (BX) announced this morning that it received a $4B cash infusion from the University of California for its privately-traded real estate fund BREIT, which was forced in December to limit investor redemptions after receiving a wave of withdrawals that exceeded its quarterly limits.

After more than 125 REITs raised their dividends in 2022, it didn't take long to see the first REIT dividend hike of 2023. Life Storage (LSI) - which hiked its dividend twice last year - boosted its quarterly payout by 11.1%. Income Builder Daily Recap U.S. equity markets declined Tuesday - a choppy start to 2023 following the worst year for financial markets in a decade - while benchmark interest rates retreated ahead of a critical slate of employment data.

Coming off declines of nearly 20% last year, the S&P 500 slipped by 0.4% today while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dipped 0.7%. Real estate equities started the year on the right foot, however, with the Equity REIT Index finishing higher by 0.1% today with 10-of-18 property sectors in positive territory, while the Mortgage REIT Index rallied 1.9% and the Homebuilders Index advanced 1.6%. A departure from the "inflation trade" that dominated last year, performance patterns on the first trading session were more consistent with a "risk off" theme with the ...