MALVERN, PA-Liberty Property Trust saw rents decline 9% during its third quarter, when the average straight-line rent of its office and industrial properties came in at $5.88. The good news? Executives forecast them to fall between 10% and 15%.
"This economic recovery will be very long and slow," predicted Bill Hankowsky, chairman and chief executive, during the firm's quarterly conference call. "Improvements won't equal positive rental growth."
One thing that did improve slightly at Liberty was leasing. The company's portfolio was 89% leased compared to 88.7% at the end of the second quarter.
The company currently has an acquisition target of $25 million to $75 million and wants to unload between $50 million to $100 million, primarily of non-core suburban office assets.
"We would love the opportunity to grow the portfolio," said Michael Hagen, chief investment officer, adding. "Everybody's trying to search out the market right now, so people can get a fair price for their real estate."
Liberty's net income for the period, at 30 cents per share, droped from 39 cents during the same year-ago period. FFO also fell, from 72 cents to 69 cents. The locally based company owns about 700 assets across the country.
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