REITs Left Behind In The Post-Election Day Stock Market Surge
The surge in the stock market following Donald Trump’s historic election victory didn't extend to publicly traded real estate owners, many of whom saw their share prices drop Wednesday.
The FTSE Nareit Index, which tracks the performance of U.S. REIT stocks, was down nearly 3% as of 12:45 p.m. ET, even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average spiked more than 3% and the S&P 500 hit an all-time high.
When trading opened hours after Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election, shares of owners of traditional asset classes like office, retail and multifamily opened higher than their Tuesday close, but by noon nearly every REIT sector was in the negative.
The most notable exception was hotel REITs — the FTSE Nareit hotel/lodging index was up almost 5% by early afternoon.
Investors likely noted that the yield on 10-year Treasury notes, a benchmark for commercial real estate loans, jumped to 4.46% following Trump’s win and a possible Republican sweep of Congress. That is the highest level for 10-year notes since early July.
The movement could be a sign that investors believe Trump’s economic policy, which includes vows to enact sweeping tariffs on imports and conduct mass deportations, will build pressure on U.S. inflation all over again.
“Interest rates are likely to be higher after a Trump presidency,” said Mark Vitner, chief economist of Piedmont Crescent Capital, an economic advisory service, and former chief economist of Wells Fargo. “There is fear of larger budget deficits in the very near term. And that’s what’s weighing on REITs.”
Bank stocks surged some 10% at the peak Wednesday as investors priced in reduced regulations from another Trump administration, CNBC reported. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley all saw stock gains Wednesday morning, Yahoo Finance reported.
“This should aid all banks,” Mike Mayo, an analyst with Wells Fargo, told Yahoo, adding the Trump win creates a “new era after 15 years of harsher regulation.”
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae stocks also soared after the election was called for Trump. Larry Kudlow, who served as the director of the National Economic Council during Trump's first term, and other key figures in Trump’s camp discussed privatizing the government-sponsored lenders in the run-up to the election.
