Initial REIT Reports on Sandy's Damage Dribble In

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA-REITs, among other property owners, are assessing the damage to their portfolios wrought by Hurricane Sandy and the initial reports suggest the damage has been minimal. That said, these first reports are from REITs largely outside of Sandy’s strike zone. Indeed, the potential for REIT losses are huge: there are some 1,600 properties owned by REITs in the hard hit New York-New Jersey markets, according to SNL Financial. In addition, there are five REITs that have a significant exposure to these areas.

These REITs include Alexander’s Inc., part of Vornado, which has 100% of its primarily retail portfolio there. First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey is second on the list, with 81% of its portfolio in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island metro area. Gyrodyne Co. of America Inc. has three out of four of the properties in its portfolio in the area. Then, Mack-Cali Realty and SL Green Realty round out SNL’s list of top five U.S. REITs in terms of exposure to the New York City metro region, with 68% and 63% of the companies’ respective portfolios there.