Economy
While housing prices have recently fallen, don’t expect a market crash like in 2008. That is according to Jack Macdowell, co-founder, and chief investment officer at alternative asset manager Palisades Group. In a January note, Goldman Sachs strategists predicted that national home prices would fall by at least 10% peak-to-trough this year, but Macdowell disagrees. He stated, "People may be concerned that we're entering into another global financial crisis-type event, where we'll see a ton of distressed inventory on the market putting downward pressure on home values. I would argue that I don't think that's the case." To back up his point, Macdowell noted that today's lenders have become smarter about loan origination than they were in the past, which helps mitigate overall default risk in the market. He also said that the ratio of mortgage debt service payments versus disposable income is currently at historically low levels, versus its peak in 2007. According to him, both of these factors lead to the unlikeliness of a "2008-esque housing" crash. In addition, Macdowell points out that in comparison to historical levels, current mortgage rates are still considered to be fairly low and while demand has fallen across the nation, Macdowell believes a low housing supply is a reason to buy the dip in existing homes sales.
Finsum:Real estate CIO Jack Macdowell doesn’t expect a 2008-style housing crash as lenders have become much smarter about loan origination and the ratio of mortgage debt service payments versus disposable income is at historically low levels.
Realized Financial recently announced a series of enhancements to its real estate solutions. The company provides real estate wealth solutions to individuals and families that own legacy investment properties and other appreciated financial and capital assets. The new features, which include predictive statistical analysis, rely on expanded levels of commercial-grade data and technology to help create more informed decisions when constructing customized portfolios of commercial real estate (CRE) investments. While alternative investments such as commercial real estate are projected to reach $23 trillion by 2026, technology has been slow to provide the transparency or customization. The new platform enhancements include customizable portfolio inputs like property types, location, or deal length, a partnership structure that can help investors’ accounts actively reflect their ongoing portfolio goals and objectives, a Confidence Score that provides an analysis of the likelihood a Sponsor will reach the projected income distributions outlined in their Private Placement Memorandum (PPM), and White Labeled Investment Plans and Investor Portals that allow advisors to apply their unique information and company branding to both Realized investment plans and the client portal. As part of the announcement, Stephanie Elliott, president at Realized Financial, stated, "Our guiding principle is enabling individuals and their advisors to manage investment property wealth with the same discipline as other traditional asset classes. These latest enhancements seek to deliver new levels of insight, control, and assurance when constructing and managing passive CRE investments."
Finsum:Realized Financial, which provides real estate wealth solutions to individuals and families recently announced a series of enhancements amid increased demand for alternative investments.
Parcl recently announced the launch of the real estate investment platform Parcl Protocol, allowing users to trade the price movements of real estate markets around the world. Its users can now invest in or trade specific geographical markets, which can be used for directional investment and hedging strategies in a traditionally opaque and walled-off asset class. Parcl is a digital real estate protocol built on Solana, a blockchain specifically designed to host decentralized and scalable applications. Through the Parcl Protocol and leveraging data provided by Parcl Labs, Parcl facilitates real estate investment. It provides exposure to cities in the United States such as New York City, Miami, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, while international cities such as Paris, London, and Singapore will be coming later this year. Users can browse global real estate markets, gain detailed insights, and have the opportunity to either buy or short real estate markets based on whether they think the real-world property values will increase or decrease. The platform is also built differently than other real estate platforms such as Yieldstreet, RealT, or Fundrise as it takes a new approach to increase liquidity and improve scale by using derivatives. The derivatives can improve diversification and add stability to a portfolio.
Finsum:Parcl launched the real estate investment platform Parcl Protocol, which allows users to trade the price movements of real estate markets around the world.
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According to Nareit, an organization that represents the REIT industry, REITs posted their best monthly returns since January 2019 and outperformed the broader markets. The FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs index jumped 10.1% while the FTSE Nareit Equity REITs index rose 10.7%. Those figures compare favorably to the 7.0% gain of the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market and the 6.7% gain for the Russell 1000. The strong returns came as a result of investor optimism stemming from the widely expected belief that the Federal Reserve will pivot from its rate hiking cycle as inflation slows. In addition, REIT operational performance continues to be strong. For instance, REITs reported a new all-time high of $19.9 billion in funds from operations in the third quarter of 2022 according to Nareit’s T-Tracker. During January, all property sectors had a positive performance. The top sectors include lodging/resorts with a 17.1% gain, industrials which rose 13.7%, and data centers at 13.2%. Even the laggard sectors were positive, with retail rising 7.4% and infrastructure gaining 6.8%. Global real estate markets also performed strongly with the FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed index gaining 9.0% compared to a 7.3% gain for the FTSE Global All Cap. In terms of regions, Developed Europe led with a return of 10.8%, followed by North America at 10.7%, and Developed Asia at 3.7%.
Finsum:REITs posted the strongest monthly performance since January 2019 as investors remain optimistic that the Fed will slow its rate hiking policy and REIT operational performance remains robust.
Buying and selling real estate properties can be quite lucrative for investors, but incurring capital gains taxes can weaken profits. What if there were ways to limit capital gains taxes on properties? In a recent article in SmartAsset, Ashley Kilroy suggested a few different ways for investors to limit their capital gains on real estate properties. The first to employ tax-deferred funds. For instance, you don't have to buy real estate with cash. You can use your IRA or 401(k). By depositing profits in your account, it allows your money to grow tax-free. Second, you can make the property your primary residence. The IRS exempts primary residence sales from capital gains taxes up to $500,000 for married filers and $250,000 for single filers. Third, employing tax-loss harvesting can help you avoid capital gains, assuming you are selling one property for a loss and another for a profit. Fourth, utilizing the 1031 Exchange allows you to use the income from the sale of one property to purchase another property of equal or greater value. In this scenario, you wouldn’t have to pay taxes on prior depreciation deductions. Fifth, the IRS allows rental property owners to deduct an annual depreciation amount from their income. Sixth, you can deduct the costs of managing property through itemized deductions, which lowers your tax burden. Seventh, improving your property boosts your property basis which can shrink your capital gains taxes and increase your property value.
Finsum:A recent article on SmartAsset provided seven different ways investors can limit their capital gains taxes on their real estate properties.
According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, ninety-nine U.S.-based publicly traded REITS announced increases to their dividend payments last year, representing about 61.5% of the entire U.S. REIT industry. The self-storage industry reported the highest percentage of dividend hikes relative to the sector's total, with 83.3% announcing dividend increases during 2022. The industrial sector placed second, with 81.8% increasing dividends. The retail industry had the biggest number of REITs that announced dividend hikes last year at 25, 80% of all retail REITs. In addition, close to 70% of U.S. REIT dividend hikes in 2022 surpass pre-COVID payouts. In fact, 68 out of 99 U.S. REITs that announced dividend hikes last year posted higher regular dividend payouts by year-end when compared to dividends in 2019. However, 27 were still paying lower dividends relative to their 2019 dividend payments. This included four hotel REITs that only reinstated their dividends last year after suspending payouts in 2020 and 2021. The remaining 4 had not started trading yet on a major exchange in 2019. In terms of the highest percentage jump in dividends, Service Properties Trust, which focuses on hotels, led all U.S. REITs with year-over-year dividend payout hikes last year. The company raised its quarterly cash dividend to 20 cents per share on Oct. 13, from a 1-cent-per-share paid during the fourth quarter of 2021. However, its current dividend is still below its pre-COVID dividend of 54 cents per share.
Finsum:Over 60% of U.S. REITs announced increases to their dividend payments in 2022, led by the self-storage industry, the industrial sector, and the retail industry.