We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Real Estate and Realty Stocks To Buy According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) stands against the other real estate and realty stocks.
US Real Estate: A Market Stuck for Too Long
Soaring mortgage rates and sky-high home prices have pushed American homebuyers out of the market for long. The situation seems demoralizing as economists at Bank of America expected the market to remain stuck until 2026 or even longer. Home prices are expected to rise by 4.5% in 2024 and then by another 5% in 2025. A critical issue hurting first-time buyers is the rate lock-in effect, the effect due to which existing homeowners remain unwilling to sell their houses since they will have to pay a higher mortgage on a new home. While this effect has restricted the supply of homes in the market, it might persist for another 6 to 8 years. In such conditions, the divide between have and have nots has amplified since current homeowners have more financial flexibility while a large proportion can simply not afford to own a house.
Long Awaited Fed Rate Cuts: What Can We Expect?
With mortgage rates currently dropping to their lowest since May 2023, the mortgage demand from both homebuyers and homeowners surged as the applications to refinance a home loan climbed. The housing industry has its eyes on the interest rate cut which had been signaled by the Fed to take place in September. Some experts believe that it could ease the affordability concerns of homebuyers in the short run. However, the cut has been expected to be rather small than replicating the historically low rates during the pandemic. On the contrary, Nick Villa, a Moody’s economist, is of the opinion that the rate cut is unlikely to solve the housing crisis although a lower mortgage rate might offer some relief. Even after the rate cut, homebuyers will have to be patient with the limited housing supply which continues to be the core and unaddressed problem in the market.
It is important to consider the Fed’s rate impact on homebuilders as well. Evercore ISI head of housing research, Stephen Kim, in an interview with CNBC, shed light on how the currently dropping rates have set homebuilders for a nice fall which will witness a rebound in demand. He pointed out the same short supply dilemma where the US has 3.8 months of supply of resale homes on the market which used to be 5 to 6 months, normally. Under these circumstances, he expects a really tight market with low pressure on home prices. While the Fed actually cutting rates might not have a huge impact on mortgage rates, it will drive the would-be homebuyers out of their places to look for a home. In conclusion, the future of the US housing market seems promising for homebuilders while homebuyers might be subject to temporary gratification since the interest rate cut won’t make that much of an impact on the mortgage rate and on a market deeply plagued with the unavailability of houses.
Our Methodology:
In order to compile a list of the 10 best real estate and realty stocks to buy according to hedge funds, we first use a stock screener to make an extended list of the relevant companies with the highest market caps. Moving on, we shortlisted the top 10 stocks from our list which had the highest number of hedge fund holders. The 10 best real estate and realty stocks to buy according to hedge funds have been arranged in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q1 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A close-up view of a technician installing a server in the data center facility, representing the reliable services provided by the company.
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) is a real estate investment trust which was incorporated in Maryland in March 2004 and owns, operates, and invests in carrier-neutral data centers. The company delivers the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. These flexible, secure, and scalable data center solutions are meant to support enterprises and service providers and to meet critical infrastructure needs. The firm was incorporated in Maryland in March 2004.
The REIT’s leading data center platform capitalizes on the growing global demand from a diversified customer base. It has a global footprint with local expertise and connectivity to the locations that matter most with more than 300 data centers across over 25 countries and over 50 global metros. As of March 31, the company serves as the 7th largest publicly traded REIT in the United States which has an enterprise value of $64 billion and has witnessed 20 years of consecutive revenue growth. Since the company’s focus is on data centers, digital transformation is expected to drive strong demand.
The strength of demand for data center capacity can be seen in the second quarter results of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR). With $164 million of new leasing executed in this quarter along with the last quarter’s record leasing, the REIT witnessed a record first half of the year. With record new log-ins and near-record bookings in each of the zero-to-one-megawatt and interconnection categories, the company also recorded one of the strongest quarters ever in the zero-to-one-megawatt plus interconnection segment.
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) remains well-positioned to take advantage of the demand for data center capacity especially for larger capacity blocks in its core markets. The firm expects to accelerate top-line and bottom-line growth for the remainder of 2024 which is a positive sign. As of March 31, the stock was held by 37 hedge funds which ranks it in 8th position on our list of the best real estate stocks to buy now.
Overall DLR ranks 8th on our list of the best real estate and realty stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of DLR as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than DLR but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.