Who Paid The Rent? Earnings Halftime Report

• Did the rent get paid? We just passed the halfway point of another newsworthy REIT earnings season. Results thus far have generally been better than expected with nearly a dozen REITs boosting guidance.

• After 59 equity REITs and 30 mortgage REITs announced a dividend cut in March through June, just one additional REIT has announced a reduction since the start of July.

• Rent collection has remained largely a non-factor for the "essential" property sectors with collection rates averaging over 95% while retail REITs have noted a steady and sequential improvement since April.

• While there haven't been any significant "fireworks" thus far, the back-half of REIT earnings season is where we'll see results from most of the troubled property sectors and more highly-levered REITs.

• Real estate is anything but monolithic. Amid the pandemic, several property sectors, including technology and industrial REITs, have only become stronger while the residential sector continues to lead the post-pandemic recovery.

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