Average short interest in US equity real estate investment trusts remained at 3.5% of shares outstanding in April.
Self-storage, office sectors see largest gains
The self-storage segment had the biggest increase in average short interest across all property types, posting a 68-basis-point hike from the previous month to 3.3% of shares outstanding as of April 28, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
The recent hike was mostly attributed to the surge in Extra Space Storage Inc.'s short interest, which rose 5.5 percentage points to 8.6% of the self-storage landlord's shares outstanding in April, the largest gain among all US REITs. The company was also among the 20 most shorted REIT stocks for the month, ranking 11th.
Two other self-storage REITs, Life Storage Inc. and Global Self Storage, logged gains of 39 basis points (bps) and 4 bps, respectively, in short interest during the month.
The three remaining self-storage REITs experienced declines in short interest. CubeSmart registered the biggest drop in the sector, down 1.3 percentage points to 4.4% of its shares outstanding. Public Storage posted a decrease of 39 bps and National Storage Affiliates Trust posted a decrease of 16 bps.
Office REITs had the second-largest rise in average short interest, up 28 bps to 6.4% of shares outstanding as of April 28.
The 10 biggest gainers in short interest for the month included six office REITs, led by SL Green Realty Corp. The company registered the second-largest increase among all REITs, up 5.4 percentage points to 28.1% of its shares outstanding. SL Green was the most shorted REIT stock in April, maintaining its top spot for the second consecutive month.
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In contrast, the casino sector had the largest fall in average short interest across all property types, posting a decline of 32 bps to 1.9% of shares outstanding as of April 28. The healthcare and farmland sectors also booked losses in average short interests, falling 27 bps and 19 bps, respectively.
REITs with sharpest declines
Healthcare-focused Diversified Healthcare Trust logged a 2.6-percentage-point drop in short interest to 1.8% of its outstanding shares, the biggest cut in April. Hotel landlord Pebblebrook Hotel Trust posted the next-largest decrease in short interest, down 2.3 percentage points to 14.1% of shares outstanding.
Rounding out the top three was diversified REIT Safehold Inc., registering a 1.5-percentage-point decline in short interest to 6.0% of its shares outstanding.
REITs with largest short positions
After SL Green, healthcare-focused Medical Properties Trust Inc. was the second most shorted US REIT stock, with 111.6 million shares sold short as of April 28, or 18.7% of its shares outstanding. Pebblebrook Hotel followed, with short interest at 14.1% of shares outstanding.
