Nareit's Reit Report Podcast

Bryan Connolly, chair of the U.S. real estate practice at DLA Piper, was a guest on the latest episode of the REIT Report. Connolly shared findings from the firm’s 2025 State of the Market Survey regarding market sentiment among real estate leaders. “The biggest trend is the continued emergence of some positivity and some excitement about what the future may hold,” Connolly said. DLA Piper carried out its survey twice this year, once in early 2025 and then again after U.S. trade policies impacted sentiment. Connolly pointed out that some leaders remarked on the ability to acquire some of the best properties at 50% to 60% of replacement costs, “recognizing that troubled times yield new opportunities.” He also highlighted sentiment that the market has bottomed out and that new pricing has been established. Meanwhile, the significant amount of equity available and intended to be deployed, expectation of stabilized interest rates, and fundamentals in the market are “really creating an exciting long-term opportuni

In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Holly Neber, chief resilience officer at AEI Consultants joins Nareit’s Jessica Long, senior vice president of environmental stewardship and sustainability, to discuss turning climate data into action at the property level using industry leading best practices captured in the new ASTM standard, Property Resilience Assessment. What's the property worth? What are the potential hazards, the risks?“The ASTM guide was never meant to be something extra or something brand new, but really a roadmap consistent with what firms were already doing to provide an industry-accepted standard so we can all refer back to it. So all the parties agree on a common approach to communicating the findings.” She goes on to explain the three parts of the assessment, including identifying property-specific exposure to identified risks, to estima

Mike Watts, CBRE’s president of investor leasing in the Americas, was a guest on the latest episode of the REIT Report. Watts focused on trends in office supply and leasing, the impact of office conversions, tenant expectations toward amenities, and more. Watts noted that CBRE expects new office deliveries in 2025 to be about 25% of what they were in 2019. Office deliveries are not expected to pick up in 2026 either. Lack of new construction at the top of the office market creates a ripple effect as demand shifts to lower tier assets. Class B office assets still retain appeal for certain office tenants, he pointed out. Meanwhile, Watts described the tenant experience as “more important than ever,” with companies keen to create a positive work environment for all levels of employees, rather than just senior level staff. Also important today is the concept of “how the building meets the street,” he said, namely access to retail that meets the specific needs of tenants and that encourages companies to renew thei

Rich Hill, global head of real estate research at Principal Asset Management, was a guest on the latest episode of the REIT Report podcast. He shared insights into sentiment within the REIT space today, public-private valuations, foreign fund flows into U.S. listed real estate, the elements of a resilient, growth-oriented real estate investment portfolio, and more. Hill stressed that commercial real estate should be viewed as a “diversified portfolio of various different property types, not just in the U.S. but in Europe. There is an opportunity someplace, somewhere in the world to add value through listed REITs and we think that will continue.” He noted that adding listed REITs to a private portfolio of real estate reduces volatility. “We advocate for having a 10% to 30% allocation to listed REITs within a private portfolio of real estate because we really do think it optimizes portfolios,” he said. 

Nareit Senior Vice President for Research Ed Pierzak was a guest on the latest episode of the REIT Report to share highlights of Nareit’s 2025 mid-year update. Pierzak reviewed expectations for the REIT industry coming into the year, and how the reality has played out in recent months. He described the first half of the year as a roller coaster ride for REIT investors, with turbulence resulting from new directions in trade policy and economic uncertainty. “The current thinking is that the ride may have ended at mid-year, really kind of leaving us in the same place as we started the year. But if the ride restarts due to the new tariff actions, the experience of the last six months really gives us confidence that REITs are well positioned to weather additional volatility and thrive,” Pierzak said. Elsewhere in the interview, Pierzak reviewed the state of REIT balance sheets and the impact of higher interest rates, among other topics.

Earnest Sweat, a tech innovation expert, was a guest on the latest edition of the REIT Report podcast. In the first of a three-part miniseries, Sweat began the process of examining the intersection of AI with the REIT sector.Sweat is a venture capitalist and general partner at Stresswood, an early-stage fund focused on backing exceptional founders building the next wave of enterprise technology.Sweat said technology can be beneficial because “companies are all expected to produce more with fewer resources.” He stressed the importance for REIT leaders to speak with middle management to ascertain where AI can handle repeatable tasks, and to stress to management that technology is not a “precursor to them losing their jobs.”

Adrianna Giesey, senior portfolio manager at Russell Investments, shared how the firm is providing investors with access to modern economy real estate by incorporating a specialty sector REIT strategy.“We like the REIT market to gain access to the specialty sectors, which is a nice compliment to a core real estate portfolio,” Giesey said. She added that Russell Investments expects these modern economy sectors, such as data centers and single family rentals, to see stronger cash flow growth over the medium term.The best way for investors to gain access to modern economy real estate is to trim traditional private real estate holdings and add listed specialty sectors, Giesey said. “This is the most efficient and low-cost way to access these specialty sectors at scale. We've helped clients do this in the past, and it's been a success all around.”

Conor Flynn, CEO of Kimco Realty (NYSE: KIM) and Nareit 2025 Chair, joined the 500th episode of the REIT Report to provide a close-up view of how a leading retail REIT is navigating today's complex market environment.Flynn highlighted the resiliency of both the consumer and tenant base in the open-air shopping center space, pointing out that there’s been 13 years of virtually no new supply.“That obviously is a big benefit and it's showcasing in the occupancy side because occupancies now are at all-time highs. Even with some disruption from tariffs and some smaller bankruptcies, retailers are continuing to expand their footprint and have identified that the store base is really the best opportunity, and the most profitable, to service the consumer in as many ways as possible,” Flynn said.He noted that convenience and value are “the sweet spot of where consumers are focused today.”

Matt Werner, managing director & senior portfolio manager at Chilton Capital Management, joined the latest episode of the Nareit REIT Report podcast to discuss why investing in an active REIT strategy today is attractive for a number of reasons.Werner said tariff-induced volatility is a “perfect environment” for an active REIT strategy “because we're able to take advantage of things that we think are selling off more than they should or trimming things that maybe are outperforming our expectations.”He added that across almost all property types, REITs are seeing “growing dividends at the same time as being on the cusp of accelerating earnings.” Valuations also look “pretty fair, especially relative to equities. They look extremely undervalued relative to the historical averages.”

Tim Bodner, real estate deals leader at PwC, joined the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report to discuss what today's uncertain market environment means for investment patterns and transaction activity.Bodner described transaction activity across a range of real estate sectors, including office, hospitality, senior housing, data centers, and energy infrastructure, as “fairly robust.” He stressed that the real estate sector is used to operating in periods of uncertainty and cyclical change, while noting that REITs are focusing on what they can control and are “in a good place at this stage, given everything that’s going on.”He also pointed out that there's a lot of activity around figuring out what's the right scale to have to operate in this new environment, “which likely will lead to more public to public and public to private transaction activity in the REIT space.”

Michael Seton, president and CEO of Sila Realty Trust, Inc . (NYSE: SILA), joined the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast to reflect upon the one-year anniversary of the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange.Seton said he is “extremely optimistic” about Sila’s future, noting that the REIT is scaled to grow its portfolio, which currently exceeds $2 billion in assets. He said “very high quality” opportunities exist throughout the marketplace.“If a seller is trying to bring a product to market today to raise capital or sell a property, it's got to be high quality because capital, generally speaking in the market, is constrained,” he said. While focused nationally, Sila has a particular emphasis on Sun Belt states.During the interview, Seton discussed Sila’s decision to do a direct listing on the NYSE and why it was confident in that choice, as well as what its Wall Street sponsorship looks like today. He also highlighted the tailwinds supporting the health care sector and described wha

In this episode of the REIT Report special series, “Building Resilience,” Joanna Frank, Founder, CEO, and President of Center for Active Design, shares how focusing on health and wellness in the built environment builds resilience by focusing on the human impact of extreme weather events.In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Joanna Frank, Founder, CEO, and President of Center for Active Design (CfAD), operator of Fitwel and Active Design Advisors, Inc (Adai) to discuss how public health strategies are helping to transform the built environment and support communities to be more resilient.“How do we use our built environment to create an environment that is resilient and can foster that quality of life and safety for the residents? This was first, I think, brought to the public stage at COP 28, where there was an entire day about health because the true cost of

Patrick Wilson, a portfolio manager for CenterSquare Investment Management’s real estate securities group, was a guest on the latest episode of the REIT Report podcast. He noted that REITs are currently in a “pretty enviable position,” which has translated into greater interest in increasing REIT allocations from CenterSquare’s existing investor base, as well as from prospective clients.“In a typical garden variety recession, which rhymes with higher unemployment, lower consumption spending, REITs tend to fare well given the long duration contractual leases that they have in place, the higher dividend income which is creating current income, and their values being tied to underlying physical asset bases,” Wilson said.Elsewhere in the interview, Wilson reviewed public versus private real estate valuations, potential opportunities in market dislocation, global trends in REIT markets, the diversity benefits REITs offer, and more.

In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Daniel Kaniewski, Managing Director, Public Sector at Marsh McLennan, joins Nareit’s Jessica Long, Senior Vice President of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability, to discuss how his experience as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) first deputy administrator for resilience has led to his current focus advancing resilience investment in the private sector.“During Hurricane Katrina, I was at the White House and saw the mass devastation, and I said, shouldn't we be doing something ahead of time to reduce these disaster losses Americans will almost inevitably face. What I found was there was a small but growing interest in an area called disaster resilience.”Currently, Kaniewski chairs the finance, insurance, and real estate committee at the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), a congressiona

Matt Birenbaum, chief investment officer at AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB), joined the REIT Report podcast to discuss the multifamily REIT’s development strategy, including the repurposing of outdated assets, as well as demand drivers in the build-to-rent segment, mixed-use development opportunities, and more.Birenbaum touched on some of the major themes in the multifamily sector today, including the increase in migration to suburban locations and the desire for larger format housing on the part of millennials. That has led to increased demand for build-to-rent homes, an area that AvalonBay is increasing its focus on.Birenbaum also noted that about a third of the REIT’s communities have a retail component. “When you get it right, the whole truly can be more than the sum of the parts. And for us, this is an area where I think we do have a competitive advantage being a REIT because we are building and owning these assets for the long term.”

In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at  First Street Foundation , joins Nareit’s Jessica Long, senior vice president of environmental stewardship and sustainability, to discuss how high-resolution climate models are helping people to understand property-specific impacts from different weather events and to develop and implement adaptation plans.  “One of the ways in which we've thought about climate risk is a one-in-a-100-year event, which implies that if I just had a one-in-a-100-year flood, I don't have to worry about another one, I'm not going to live to be 100 years old. That's not actually how they work,” Porter explains. “Understanding that every year there's an independent opportunity for that probability of an event to occur, so if you look out over the 30 years of a standar

Darrell Crate, co-founder and CEO of Easterly Government Properties, Inc . (NYSE: DEA), joined Nareit’s REIT Report podcast to share his insight into how the REIT is addressing the commercial real estate needs of mission-critical U.S. government agencies.Crate noted that Easterly has been focused on efficiency since before the Trump administration created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “DOGE is a tailwind. We could not be more excited that the government's going to have the opportunity, through better processes, to take some of our ideas and move them forward,” he said.

David Schanuel, president and COO of SageWater, joined a sponsored episode of the REIT Report podcast to discuss the importance in the multifamily sector of including plumbing and mechanical infrastructure in capital improvement planning.SageWater helps multifamily owners protect their investment and improve residents’ quality of life through turnkey plumbing and mechanical infrastructure solutions. With forensic diagnosis, engineering design, and construction services, they upgrade and install critical systems while renters remain in their homes.Schanuel noted that SageWater primarily focuses on the “substantial amount” of aged infrastructure in the multifamily sector that was delivered in the 1950s-1970s, and sometimes the early 1980s. “Their plumbing and mechanical systems have aged out or phased out of their useful life and really need to be addressed to ensure that the housing stock remains a top-quality asset for the ownership groups that maintain and rent out those facilities.”

David Giulieri and Michael Svec, senior portfolio management directors and certified financial planners with the Chesapeake Capitol Group at Morgan Stanley, were guests on Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. In recognition of April as Financial Literacy Month, Giulieri and Svec touched on a range of topics relevant to novice and seasoned investors alike.Both Giulieri and Svec emphasized the importance of staying calm and focused in today’s volatile market environment. “If you can stay disciplined during times like this, the odds of success skyrocket,” Giulieri said. Svec advised listeners to “have a plan, stick to it, and do your best to keep the emotion out of it.”During the interview, Giulieri and Svec also addressed:key questions to ask a potential financial advisorhow to balance the need to have funds available for key financial milestones, like buying a home or paying for college, with ensuring that you're also saving for retirementadvice for anyone already on the investment path, with a 401K or other inv

Rob Main, managing partner at the shareholder advisory firm Jasper Street, joined the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. He discussed sustainability reporting and practical steps REITs can take to navigate the proxy season.Main described the corporate mood heading into proxy season as “anxious.” For many companies, however, as long as they've been engaging with their investors, have good disclosure, and aren't viewed as outliers by institutional investors, “they're probably going to have a good proxy season,” he said.Investors, meanwhile, are “cautious,” he said, and are likely to be more “tight-lipped” given recent SEC guidance. At the same time, their core belief about the importance of strong governance practices remains intact.