Timber & Farmland REITs: Ultimate Inflation Hedges
- Publicly-traded landowners - specifically timber and farmland REITs - have been among the best-performing real estate sectors this year amid concerns over persistent inflation and soaring commodities prices.
- Amid the ongoing conflict with Russia- which is among the world's largest exporters of agriculture, gasoline, and timber products- the importance and value of North American production will become evident.
- For timber REITs, record profitability last year translated into significant dividend growth. With lumber prices again pushing towards record-highs from resilient housing demand, the positive momentum looks poised to continue.
- Buying land has been a "hot trade" over the past year, and valuations appear extremely rich for farmland REITs with implied cap rates in the 2-3% range, but valuations of higher-quality timber REITs remain quite attractive.
- For investors that can tolerate the volatility, timber REIT fundamentals are especially compelling given the record-low housing supply, a substantial backlog of new home orders, and deferred home improvement spending.
