Jim Berry, U.S. real estate and construction leader at Deloitte & Touche LLP, participated in a video interview at Nareit's REITwise: 2018 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood, Florida.
Given recent market volatility, Berry stressed that it’s important to take a historical perspective on REITs and real estate. While REITs may have underperformed compared to the broader market, on a historical basis REITs have had a “pretty good performance.”
“Base fundamentals for most real estate (sectors) are still pretty strong,” Berry said.
Meanwhile, the continued gap between REIT net asset values (NAV) and share prices provides an opportunity for companies to concentrate on their core strategies so that they can better explain their value to the market, according to Berry.
Berry also noted that uncertainty surrounds the impact of aluminum and steel tariffs on REITs and real estate. He pointed out that aluminum and steel account for about 14 to 16 percent of the cost of most new real estate commercial construction.