U.S. equity real estate investment trusts average short interest dropped by 8 basis points to 3.2% of shares outstanding as of the end of August, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Hotels lose short interest
Hotel REITs saw the largest drop, declining 26 basis points from the preceding two weeks to 4.3% of shares outstanding as of Aug. 31.
Hotel landlord Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. had the steepest fall in short interest across all U.S. REITs at 1.1 percentage points, or 11.3% of its shares outstanding as of August-end.
Another two hotel REITS made the top 19 largest drops in short interest. Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. saw an 88-basis-point drop to 3.8% of its shares outstanding and Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. an 83-basis-point drop to 6.4% of its shares outstanding.
The casino sector saw the next largest decline, falling 25 basis points to 2.8% of shares outstanding as of August-end. Shopping center REITs took the third spot, with a 15-basis-point decline to 2.3% of shares outstanding during the same period.
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The "other retail" sector, which includes outlet center, single-tenant and other retail REITs, had the largest increase in average short interest across all property types, gaining 4 basis points over the preceding two weeks to 4.4% of shares outstanding as of Aug. 31.
Single tenant Agree Realty Corp.'s short interest relative to shares outstanding rose 74 basis points to 12.9% as of August-end, ranking it as the company with the fourth-highest short interest gain across all U.S. REITs over the last two weeks of August.
Top REITs by change in short interest
At 1.4 percentage points, industrial-focused Rexford Industrial Realty Inc. saw the largest gain in short interest over the last two weeks of August, to 8.0% of its shares outstanding. Healthcare REIT Medical Properties Trust Inc. followed, with short interest up 1.3 percentage points to 8.3%.
Diversified REIT iStar Inc. saw the second-biggest drop in short interest, down 94 basis points to 2.8% of its shares outstanding.
Most shorted US REITs
Single tenant REIT NETSTREIT Corp. remained the most shorted U.S. REIT stock, with 9.2 million shares sold short as of Aug. 31, or 17.9% of its shares outstanding. Regional mall REIT Pennsylvania REIT and the aforementioned Agree Realty Corp. followed, with short interests at 15.6% and 12.9% of shares outstanding, respectively.
