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

Capital markets activity by US equity real estate investment trusts was down in March, pulling in a total of $4.60 billion, a more than 17% decline from the $5.59 billion raised in February.

On a year-over-year basis, the amount of capital raised was down 46.8% in March, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. All the capital raised in March came from debt offerings.

American Tower, Simon Property collected the most capital

Communications REIT American Tower Corp. and regional mall owner Simon Property Group Inc. brought in the most capital during the month, raising a total of $1.30 billion each.

American Tower sold $1.30 billion of secured notes due March 2053. The communications REIT intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes and to repay existing debt.

Meanwhile, Simon Property sold two sets of unsecured notes worth $650 million each, with maturity dates of 2033 and 2053, respectively. The company also plans to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including debt repayment.

Industrial REIT Prologis Inc. also amassed a big amount of capital in March, raising a total of $1.20 billion through two debt offerings.

– Set email alerts for future Data Dispatch articles. – Access a spreadsheet listing the offerings completed year-to-date in 2023 by publicly listed US equity real estate investment trusts. – For further capital offerings research, try the global real estate capital offerings activity template.

With the addition of its recent debt offering completed March 8, American Tower attracted the most capital during the first quarter at $2.80 billion, followed by Uniti Group Inc. at $2.60 billion. Industrial REIT Prologis Inc. ranked third, with $2.56 billion of capital raised as of March-end.

Specialty sector tops Q1 capital offerings

The offerings in March brought the first-quarter total to $15.55 billion, about 23% lower than the capital raised during the same period in 2022.

The specialty sector — advertising, casino, communications, datacenter, energy infrastructure, land and timber real estate — accounted for the largest share of capital raised during the first quarter at $7.31 billion. The industrial sector followed, at $3.22 billion, and the retail sector, at $2.40 billion.