Fitch: Success Story Continues for U.S. REITs Amid Housing Woes.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- The increased troubles in the U.S. housing environment have not, and will do little to impede the continued strong performance of U.S. REITs in 2007 as Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. maintains a Positive Outlook for the sector, according to the rating agency in its latest REIT REIT See: Real Estate Investment Trust REIT See real estate investment trust (REIT). Scorecard. 'Continued economic expansion should remain a catalyst for higher occupancies and rental rates for many companies across the spectrum of property types,' said Managing Director and REIT group head Steven Marks. 'Intense investor interest in real estate is also providing REITs a great deal of liquidity throughout all levels of the capital structure, leading to cheaper financing and a strong asset disposition market.' The intense competition has also made property acquisitions more expensive, which will pose a challenge for REIT managements to find new ways to grow their portfolios and cash flow. This likely paves the way for more joint-venture (JV) structures with institutional partners this year. Rating upgrades for both office and retail REITs are a possibility for this year as Fitch projects Positive Rating Outlooks for multifamily, lodging and office REITs, along with Stable Outlooks for the industrial, retail, health care and mortgage REIT Mortgage REIT An REIT that invests in loans secured by real estate which derive income from mortgage interest and fees. mortgage REIT spaces. Perhaps the only blemish blem·ish n. A small circumscribed alteration of the skin considered to be unesthetic but insignificant. blemish for the sector, according to Marks, may be residential mortgage REITs. 'Fitch is increasingly concerned by the underlying credit quality of the mortgage assets and the operating performance of subprime residential mortgage REITs. We believe that liquidity and capital to these companies may decline as a result of the negative trends in the sector,' said Marks. Fitch's '2007 REIT Scorecard' is available on the Fitch Ratings web site at www.fitchratings.com. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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