US equity REIT capital offerings down almost 20% MOM in August

Editor's note: This article is published monthly with current data available at that time.

US equity real estate investment trust capital market activity dropped 19.4% month over month in August, with the industry pulling in $6.99 billion during the month, compared to $8.67 billion in July.

However, the amount of capital collected during the month was more than six times higher than the $1.12 billion raised during August 2023, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Most of the capital raised in August came through debt offerings, at $6.97 billion. Common equity offerings accounted for $18.5 million, while the remaining $3.5 million was obtained through a preferred equity offering.

Realty Income collects biggest amount of capital in August

Single-tenant-focused Realty Income Corp. pulled in the largest amount of capital during the month, raising a total of $1.43 billion after selling $500 million of 5.375% notes due 2054 completed Aug. 19, and two sets of notes worth $463.1 million each — 5.000% notes due 2029 and 5.250% notes due 2041 completed Aug. 27. The REIT intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of all the notes for general corporate purposes, which may include repayment or repurchase of the REIT's debts, foreign currency swaps or other hedging instrument; the development, redevelopment and acquisition of additional properties and other acquisition or business combination transactions; redemptions of the REIT's outstanding preferred stock; and the expansion and improvement of certain properties in the REIT's portfolio.

Communications REIT Crown Castle Inc. followed with a total of $1.25 billion, selling $700 million of 5.200% senior notes due 2034 and $550 million of 4.900% senior notes due 2029. The company intends to use the net proceeds to repay a portion of the outstanding indebtedness under its commercial paper program and pay related fees and expenses.

Office-focused BXP Inc. came in third after selling $850 million of 5.750% senior notes due 2035. The office landlord intends to use the net proceeds from the sale to repay its debt, which may include funding all or a portion of the redemption of the $850.0 million aggregate principal amount of the REIT's 3.200% senior notes due 2025 that are scheduled to mature Jan. 15, 2025.

– Set email alerts for future Data Dispatch articles. – Access a spreadsheet listing the offerings completed year to date in 2024 by publicly listed US equity real estate investment trusts. – For further capital offerings research, try the global real estate capital offerings activity template.

The largest single common equity offering during the first eight months of 2024 was industrial REIT Lineage Inc.'s $5.10 billion IPO common equity offering, completed July 24. Healthcare-focused Welltower Inc.'s $1.04 billion of 3.125% exchangeable senior notes, completed July 9, was the largest single debt offering completed year to date.

Overall, Lineage has attracted the most capital overall year to date at $5.10 billion, followed by Prologis Inc. at $4.98 billion and Realty Income at $2.68 billion.

Industrial sector tops capital offerings YTD

The offerings in August brought the year-to-date total to $49.18 billion, an increase of 13.0% from what the entire US REIT industry raised during the first eight months of 2023.

By property sector, industrial REITs accounted for the largest share of total capital raised year to date, with $10.87 billion. The specialty sector — including advertising, casino, communications, datacenter, energy infrastructure, farmland and timber — came in second, with $9.79 billion raised, followed by retail-focused REITs at $7.31 billion.