Current dividend rates for roughly half of the publicly traded U.S. real estate investment trusts exceed their pre-pandemic levels reported at the end of 2019, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
The analysis included U.S. equity REITs that trade on the Nasdaq, NYSE or NYSE American, excluding those that came to the public market after 2019 year-end, already suspended their dividend before 2019 year-end or are merger targets.
Dividend increases
Both single-family rental REITs have increased dividends significantly since 2019. American Homes 4 Rent's current quarterly dividend sits at 18 cents per share, up nearly four times compared to its 2019 dividend of 5 cents per share. American Homes 4 Rent's dividend increase marked the largest increase among all publicly traded U.S. REITs over the period. Peer Invitation Homes Inc. increased its quarterly dividend by 69.2% to 22 cents per share, the fifth-largest increase in the REIT sector.
Communications REIT SBA Communications Corp. nearly doubled its dividend over the period, up to 71 cents per share on a quarterly basis. The other communications REITs — Uniti Group Inc., American Tower Corp. and Crown Castle International Corp. — all also ramped up dividend payments since 2019.
Additionally, data center REITs Equinix Inc. and Digital Realty Trust Inc. have increased their dividend rates by 26.0% and 13.0%, respectively.
All three manufactured home REITs also increased dividend rates since 2019, with Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc. increasing its quarterly dividend by the largest margin, up 33.9% to 41 cents per share.
Other sectors that have largely increased dividend rates included single-tenant retail, industrial and multifamily.
Dividend cuts
On the other hand, current dividend rates for 55 REITs in the analysis, or 37.4%, remain below their pre-pandemic levels.
All 16 hotel REITs have yet to recover their dividend levels, with nine of them still suspending dividends entirely. Dividend rates for the remaining seven remain far below pre-pandemic levels. Apple Hospitality REIT Inc. pays the largest dividend in the sector at 5 cents per share per month. Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. pays a quarterly dividend of 3 cents per share, while the other five pay a quarterly rate of 1 cent per share.
While not as low as the hotel sector, all three regional mall REITs analyzed along with outlet-center-focused Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. have yet to recover quarterly dividend payments to pre-pandemic levels. Pennsylvania REIT still has its dividend suspended, while Macerich Co.'s current quarterly dividend rate of 15 cents per share is 80% below its dividend rate of 75 cents per share at the end of 2019. Among the mall REITs, Simon Property Group Inc.'s quarterly dividend of $1.65 per share marks the closest to its pre-pandemic level but is still down 21.4% compared to its $2.10 quarterly rate at the end of 2019.
