Editor's note: This Data Dispatch is updated monthly. The analysis includes publicly traded real estate investment trusts covered by S&P Global Market Intelligence that are based in the US or Canada and trade on the NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE American, Toronto Stock Exchange or Toronto Venture Exchange.

Twenty publicly traded real estate investment trusts based in the US announced increases to their regular dividend payments in February, accounting for roughly 87% of the total dividend hikes over the first two months of 2023, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Two Canadian REITs also declared higher dividends during the same month for a year-to-date total of four dividend hike announcements.

RLJ Lodging tops dividend hikes

Hotel owner RLJ Lodging Trust disclosed the largest dividend hike in February, raising its quarterly cash distribution 60% to 8 cents per share on Feb. 27.

In the hotel REIT's most recent earnings release, President and CEO Leslie Hale said the company's strengthening lodging fundamentals observed earlier in 2022, especially in urban markets, continued into the fourth quarter of 2022. Hale added that the REIT was able to carry out its key initiatives while strengthening its balance sheet and returning capital to its shareholders via share repurchases and dividend hikes.

"While the current environment remains uncertain, the continuing improvement in business travel, group booking momentum and the ongoing recovery in urban leisure gives us confidence that urban markets will continue to outperform the industry on a relative basis this year, which will benefit our urban-centric portfolio," Hale said.

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Also in February, regional mall landlord CBL & Associates Properties Inc. and self-storage REIT Public Storage both increased their respective dividends by 50%.

On Feb. 16, CBL & Associates upped its dividend payout to 37.5 cents per share from a previous rate of 25 cents per share. "Strong operating performance and favorable financing activity in 2022 and year-to-date have contributed to our substantial cash flow generation and strong cash position," according to CBL CEO Stephen Lebovitz.

Public Storage has continued to achieve "strong financial performance," allowing the REIT to hike its dividend by 50% to $3 per share on Feb. 5, President and CEO Joe Russell said.

Four other REITS announced double-digit hikes in their dividend payouts in February: single-family rental REIT American Homes 4 Rent, industrial-focused Rexford Industrial Realty Inc., communications REIT SBA Communications Corp. and data center-focused Equinix Inc.

In Canada, multifamily-focused Boardwalk REIT declared an 8.3% increase to its monthly dividend payout in February to 9.75 Canadian cents per share. Shopping center REIT RioCan REIT also boosted its distribution by 5.9% to 9 Canadian cents per share for the same month.

50% of self-storage US REITs boost dividends YTD

The dividend hike announcements made in February have brought the year-to-date total to 23 US REITs, or roughly 14.5% of the entire US REIT industry.

Self-storage REITs have reported the most dividend gains since the beginning of 2023, with three of six companies operating in the sector raising their distributions. Public Storage and Extra Space Storage Inc. both announced hikes in February, and Life Storage Inc. declared an increase in January.

The specialty segment followed with 31.6% of REITs in the sector announcing dividend increases as of February-end. The industrial segment came in third with 27.3%.