AUSTIN, TX - Upside Avenue, an award-winning Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), recently added six new multifamily properties to its public non-traded REIT portfolio in the last two months.
Five new multifamily properties, totaling 1,070 units, were added in the beginning of March. These properties are located in various areas of the highly in-demand, Dallas-Fort Worth market. This market has seen an unprecedented economic growth and migration in recent years as a result of its diverse economy and business-friendly environment.
The most recent investment is a large 737-unit community in a prominent and growing neighborhood in Houston, Texas. It is located west of uptown and just south of the energy corridor which provides great access to many of the city’s top employers, retail centers, and entertainment hubs.
“Now is the perfect time to focus on the strategy of buying low and selling high and we do it with a margin of safety in our underwriting,” said CIO Chi Hathiramani.
The effects of COVID-19 on the industry has caused a shift in how Upside Avenue invests.
“Today, value-add is a bit more difficult because rents are lower and wage incomes have dropped,” said Hathiramani. “We’re not sure we can get the same rent premiums today that we would usually underwrite under normal circumstances. Instead, we’re focusing on A- to B class assets in bulletproof locations where we can actually derive long term appreciation while driving a healthy dividend today.”
Upside Avenue continues to look for opportunities to invest in that provide investors with a stable, long-term alternative to the stock market.
An article by Nareit references how REITs have generally protected against stock market declines. “Because REITs give investors exposure to an entirely different market cycle—the real estate cycle, which is very different from (and longer than) the business cycle that drives returns for most non-REIT stocks—REITs provide a diversification benefit that investors can’t replicate without maintaining a substantial allocation to the real estate asset class.”