Buoyed by continuing retail re-openings nationally, rentcollections for free standing and shopping mall-focused REITstrended upwards in July after gains in June.

The trend was highlighted in the fourth monthly survey of REITrents across six property sectors by the National Association ofReal Estate Investment Trusts (Nareit).

The Nareit report—which culled data from April, May,June and July rent surveys and combined them with publiclydisclosed data matched to June's month-end equity marketcapitalization—covered a broad spectrum of commercial real estateamidst the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact.

In addition to the retail subsectors, industrial, office,apartments and healthcare were also surveyed andthey showed consistently strong rent collections in Juneand July that hovered between 94 and 99 percent.

But the biggest gain in full rent collections was with freestanding retail, which reported a 12.1 percentage points jump from79.3 percent in June to 91.4 percent in July. Shopping centers hadthe second largest spike, rising 8.9 percentage points from 60.6percent in June to 69.5 percent in July.

There are more than 16,000 REIT-owned free standing retailestablishments across the US, including big boxstores, pharmacies, convenience stores and restaurants, and roughly2,700 shopping center REITs, according to Nareit.

The note attributed the positive surge among the retailsubsectors to the prevalence of essential businesses, such asgrocery and drug stores as tenants. Nareit cited such businesses as"a stabilizing factor," as well as reliable rent payers for theseproperties.

Free standing and shopping center REITs also reported decreasesin deferred rent and forbearance. The former reported granting rentdeferrals for over 17 percent in May and June rent, but only 7percent of July rent. Meanwhile, the forbearance rate for shoppingcenter REITs plunged 8 percentage points from 9 percent of rentowed in June to 1 percent in July.

The industrial subsector was the strongest among the sixsurveyed with collections at nearly 100 percent of typical rents inJuly and zero forbearance in May through July, based on the Nareitreport.

Office rent collections fell slightly to 96 percent in July fromJune, while deferral rates went from1.5 percent of rent owed byequity market cap in June to 1.7 percent in July.

Apartment rent collections stayed largely the same at 96 percentfor June and July, while deferrals dropped to less than 1 percentin July compared to 3 percent in May.

Meanwhile, healthcare reported rent collections staying steadyat 95 percent for both June and July, while rent deferrals heldfirm at 4 percent of rent by equity market cap for both months.