REIT Executives “Cautiously Optimistic” at REITweek as Economy Begins to Reopen

Nareit Senior Economist Calvin Schnure discussed some of the main themes from Nareit’s REITweek: Virtual Investor Conference and the May jobs report in the June 8 edition of the Nareit REIT Report podcast.Schnure characterized the overall mood at REITweek as “cautiously optimistic.”“Obviously we’re still in unchartered waters and there’s a lot of concern about unforeseen risks in the period ahead,” Schnure noted. While economic activity is beginning to resume, few expect it to be without glitches, he added.At the same time, property sectors are seeing a wide range of impacts from the crisis. In the retail sector, for example, the reopening of the economy is expected to help rent collection but going forward many tenants are still going to have a low level of revenue, “so we’re not out of the woods yet on that front,” Schnure said.