February 11, 2021
Fiera Real Estate UK Limited (“FRE UK”) is pleased to announce that it has achieved an effective rent collection rate of 96.5% 31 days post the December quarter-date and 96.1% since the onset of the pandemic.
FRE UK’s strong rental performance has been achieved through a combination of forensic credit underwriting and monitoring, tactical overweight positions to the more resilient sectors in the market, including industrial and food retailing and the underlying strength of long term tenant relationships. In comparison, the wider UK commercial real estate market has averaged 67.2% for the December 2020 quarter and 75.3% since the start of the pandemic (Remit Consulting based on 125,000 tenancies).
Rupert Sheldon, Head of Core REIM at FRE UK said:
“These market beating rental collection statistics have not occurred by accident. Core income investing is all about delivering sustained dividend growth. If you achieve this, the capital growth will follow. We have worked hard in recent years to improve both our underlying tenant quality and the systems and processes for underwriting and monitoring this over time. Our successes in this area have, quite literally, been paying dividends to our investors through this most challenging phase of the market”.