Vornado Realty Trust chairman Steven Roth’s latest annual letter brims with optimism about the dawn of a new, long real-estate cycle. But the biggest money-making opportunity, he suggests, has already passed. Stocks of real-estate investment trusts have more than doubled from their lows just over a year ago. The last two years, Mr. Roth writes, were “a once in a life time opportunity to acquire at panic prices debt and equity securities of publicly-traded real estate companies, including our own.” Finding great deals in actual real estate, on the other hand, has been much harder. Case in point: General Growth Properties, the overleveraged mall giant that filed for bankruptcy last year. Since April 17, the company’s stock, which trades on the pink sheets, is up 2,182%. The firms now bidding for General Growth’s shopping malls could get a good deal—but it won’t be as good as that. ”All the money was made buying securities in the panic,” Mr. Roth says of General Growth. “Whoever the final acquirer turns out to be, they will be paying a fair, not distressed price.”
Most Popular Articles
Latest Articles
Test
The story for the housing market over the past three years has been, “Home sales are down, home prices are up.” Because inventory was so restricted after the pandemic, prices pushed higher even as demand weakened. That story may finally be inverting as unsold inventory of homes is now great enough that home prices are […]
-
Freddie Mac’s Donna Spencer on their Servicing Excellence initiative
-
Lower mortgage rates attracting more homebuyers
-
Rocket Pro TPO raises conforming loan limit to $802,650 ahead of FHFA’s decision
-
Show up, don’t show off: Laura O’Connor is redefining success in real estate
-
Between the lines: Understanding the nuances of the NAR settlement