BREIT Still Restricting Withdrawals, Although Receiving Fewer Requests At $3.8B
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust has been limiting redemptions for months, and while the withdrawal requests are still flowing in, the REIT suggests that the peak may have passed.
In June, BREIT received roughly $3.8B in withdrawal requests, which BREIT leadership said in a letter to shareholders is 29% off January's peak request volume and is the lowest repurchase request amount so far this year. February requests totaled $3.9B, while requests for both March and April reached $4.5B. Requests in May totaled $4.4B.
"BREIT continues to deliver strong performance given its portfolio concentration in sectors like rental housing, logistics and data centers in the Sunbelt: 12% annualized net return since inception over six years ago, over 3x the public REIT index," BREIT said in an emailed statement. "We were pleased to see June repurchase requests decline meaningfully from the January peak."
BREIT is fulfilling about $628M, or 17%, of the June requests, the letter said. The REIT has paid $8.1B to those requesting to redeem their shares since November.
BREIT allows for repurchases of up to 2% of its net asset value each month or 5% per quarter. June’s requests were equal to 1% of NAV. The REIT began limiting redemptions in November, when requests exceeded these parameters.
“In today’s environment, you can’t paint real estate with a broad brush and where you invest matters,” the letter stated.
BREIT's portfolio is roughly 80% concentrated in housing, industrial and data centers, according to the letter, and about 70% in the Sun Belt, where apartment rents have been higher than the national average in recent years.
Despite the seemingly positive news for the REIT, Blackstone is parting with some of those high-performing assets, selling 70 industrial properties valued at $3.1B to Prologis. The assets total about 14M SF. Blackstone is also rumored to be mulling the sale of half of the $4.25B stake it acquired in the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas four years ago, Bloomberg reported last month.
BREIT is also spending, especially in Europe, where it has dropped $3.8B on mostly warehouses, student housing and lab space, Bloomberg reported. The uncertainty and fear some investors have regarding the commercial real estate sector have created opportunities for investors with deep pockets, Blackstone Inc. Global co-Head of Real Estate Kathleen McCarthy told Bloomberg Television.
“When sentiment gets really negative, prices decouple from fundamental value,” she said. “We have a practice of trying to quiet that noise and look at the information in front of us.”
UPDATE, JULY 6, 1:51 P.M. ET: This story has been updated with a statement from Blackstone.
