Blue Vault Insights- Page 6 of 22

Blue Vault Insights

September 5, 2023

Why Mutual Funds and Interval Funds Are More Different Than You Think (Liquidity Timelines are Just a Start)

With traditional stock and bond funds having performed poorly in 2022, many advisors are embracing alternative investments with uncorrelated and potentially higher returns. Most so-called “alts” are illiquid private funds that require investors to lock up their money for long periods of time before they can redeem shares, underscoring the investment principle that potential return…

August 30, 2023

A Curious Look at Commercial Real Estate Cap Rates

In this article we ask the question, “Which came first, the market value or the cap rate?" Does that question sound familiar? It should, since it really is like the classic “chicken or egg” conundrum. The fact is cap rates do not determine market values and market values do not determine cap rates. But, each…

August 29, 2023

How Interest Rate Caps and Swaps Are Used by Non-Traded REITs

Non-traded REITs utilize different types of financial contracts to hedge their variable rate debts to protect themselves financially from changes in interest rates...

August 22, 2023

NAV REITs Report Positive Median Total Returns for July

The median monthly total return for 16 continuously offered nontraded REIT programs (“NAV REITs”) was 0.21% in July, compared to just 0.01% in June. Ten of the 16 reported positive total returns.

August 16, 2023

Converging Trends in Commercial Real Estate Markets Highlighted

A recent article by Peter Grant, who covers commercial real estate trends for the Wall Street Journal, covered a lot of territory and trends in the commercial real estate space. (See “Wall Street Is Ready to Scoop Up Commercial Real Estate on the Cheap” August 15, WSJ) Like pulling a thread from a sweater, digging…

August 16, 2023

Hedging with Gold Has an Opportunity Cost

Judging by the number advertisements heard regularly promoting holding gold as a hedge against inflation and protection should the U.S. economy crash, one would conclude that Americans are turning to investments in gold bullion or equivalents in large numbers. The facts don’t support that conclusion. As the chart below illustrates, spot gold prices (green line)…

August 15, 2023

Has the Self-Storage Real Estate Sector Peaked?

An August 6 Wall Street Journal article asked the question: “Is There a Limit to Americans' Self-Storage Addiction?” And answered its questions with: “Billions of Dollars Say Nope.” “There are self-storage facilities around the world, but nowhere have they been more popular to rent and profitable to own than in the U.S., thanks to Americans'…

August 8, 2023

Rising Interest Rates a Boon for Blackstone BDC, Interval Fund Investors

As interest rates continue to rise, investors in Blackstone’s business development company (BDC) and interval fund are seeing a similar spike in distribution payments, reflecting the asset manager’s profit-generating prowess amid extended economic turbulence. On Blue Vault’s July 26 webinar, A Deeper Look at Blackstone, Senior Financial Analyst Luke Schmidt said both funds are performing…

August 2, 2023

Nontraded REITs Don’t Own Floundering Enclosed Mall Assets

Using Blue Vault’s exclusive database, we looked at the properties held by nontraded REITs as of March 31, 2023, to see if those assets could be categorized as “older, low-end malls”...