Real Estate Industry News

With the coronavirus pandemic shuttering shops and causing millions of people to lose jobs, the crisis has also limited property owners’ ability to collect rents.

Nationally just 10% to 20% of mall retailers paid rent in April and many not until the end of the month, according to an estimate from CBRE. The paying share was higher for other assets like multi-family apartments (89% though not all in full) and offices, but the real estate services firm expects rent prices to decline for even the strongest sectors and for recovery to take at least 12 months for warehouses and at least 36 months for shops, restaurants and hotels.

The pain is universal. But as is often the case, the biggest companies may be best positioned to control their fates—and many of the world’s largest property owners have already announced steps designed to speed up the comeback.

In early May real estate powerhouse Brookfield Asset Management said it would spend $5 billion to invest in struggling retail businesses. Brookfield owns 152 million square feet of retail space and another roughly 300 million of offices, hotels and apartments.

“We believe this is a critical component to getting the economy moving again, and we would like to partner with companies and entrepreneurs that can draw on our capital and expertise to stabilize and grow their business,” said Ron Bloom, head of Brookfield’s private equity division and leader of this retail initiative, in a statement.

Among publicly held real estate companies, Canadian Brookfield had, for the past year, the most assets ($324 billion), highest revenues ($69 billion), second-highest profits ($2.8 billion) and fourth-highest market cap ($51 billion). These results make Brookfield the biggest public real estate investment company on the planet for the third year running, according to the Forbes Global 2000 list for 2020.

The Global 2000 is our annual ranking of the world’s largest and most powerful public companies. The list is based on four equally-weighted metrics: revenue, profit, assets and market value. In all, 35 firms primarily in the business of owning real estate made the list this year—not including firms such as Blackstone BX , the private equity giant that has a massive property portfolio but also invests in many other asset types.

These companies include diversified players like Brookfield (which in addition to a range of real estate assets invests in infrastructure and renewable energy), as well more specialized investors such as cell tower owner American Tower Corporation AMT , mall giant Simon Property Group SPG , warehouse king Prologis PLD and apartment behemoth Equity Residential EQR .

Each has approached the pandemic fallout differently. Equity Residential, for instance, halted evictions and rent increases for 90 days starting in March. Prologis launched a marketplace offering COVID-19 related deep cleaning and a reopening checklist.

Not all efforts have been well received. In its May earnings release, Simon said it planned to open roughly half its 200 malls by May 15. It has since had to delay in Indiana and New York.

1. Brookfield Asset Management | Canada

Sales: $69.109 billion

Profit: $2.803 billion

Assets: $323.969 billion

Market value: $51.279 billion

2. American Tower Corporation | United States

Sales: $7.760 billion

Profit: $1.905 billion

Assets: $40.789 billion

Market value: $105.507 billion

3. Prologis | United States

Sales: $3.537 billion

Profit: $1.715 billion

Assets: $55.007 billion

Market value: $65.949 billion

4. Simon Property Group | United States

Sales: $5.674 billion

Profit: $2.087 billion

Assets: $31.232 billion

Market value: $20.406 billion

5. Link Real Estate Investment Trust | Hong Kong

Sales: $1.348 billion

Profit: $2.277 billion

Assets: $29.582 billion

Market value: $18.476 billion

6. Equinix | United States

Sales: $5.521 billion

Profit: $507 billion

Assets: $23.966 billion

Market value: $58.018 billion

7. Equity Residential | United States

Sales: $2.680 billion

Profit: $968 billion

Assets: $21.173 billion

Market value: $24.209 billion

8. Digital Realty Trust | United States

Sales: $3.187 billion

Profit: $580 billion

Assets: $23.068 billion

Market value: $38.760 billion

9. Welltower | United States

Sales: $5.121 billion

Profit: $484 billion

Assets: $33.381 billion

Market value: $21.033 billion

10. Public Storage | United States

Sales: $2.874 billion

Profit: $1.515 billion

Assets: $11.826 billion

Market value: $32.386 billion

11. AvalonBay Communities | United States

Sales: $2.318 billion

Profit: $784 billion

Assets: $19.121 billion

Market value: $22.933 billion

12. Boston Properties | United States

Sales: $2.985 billion

Profit: $921 billion

Assets: $21.830 billion

Market value: $15.094 billion

13. Vornado Realty Trust | United States

Sales: $5.321 billion

Profit: $3.148 billion

Assets: $18.287 billion

Market value: $8.374 billion

14. Gecina SA | France

Sales: $1.060 billion

Profit: $1.696 billion

Assets: $22.961 billion

Market value: $9.582 billion

15. L E Lundbergfoeretagen AB | Sweden

Sales: $2.720 billion

Profit: $1.261 billion

Assets: $18.727 billion

Market value: $10.466 billion

16. SEGRO | United Kingdom

Sales: $552 billion

Profit: $1.094 billion

Assets: $13.357 billion

Market value: $11.466 billion

17. Annaly Capital Management | United States

Sales: $2.345 billion

Loss: $(4.954) billion

Assets: $96.917 billion

Market value: $8.940 billion

18. Realty Income Corporation | United States

Sales: $1.504 billion

Profit: $436 million

Assets: $18.555 billion

Market value: $18.859 billion

19. Ventas | United States

Sales: $3.873 billion

Profit: $433 billion

Assets: $24.692 billion

Market value: $12.069 billion

20. Starwood Property Trust | United States

Sales: $1.299 billion

Profit: $506 billion

Assets: $78.042 billion

Market value: $3.662 billion

21. Host Hotels & Resorts | United States

Sales: $5.469 billion

Profit: $920 million

Assets: $12.305 billion

Market value: $8.689 billion

22. Weyerhaeuser Company | United States

Sales: $6.554 billion

Loss: $(76) million

Assets: $16.406 billion

Market value: $16.320 billion

23. Covivio SA | France

Sales: $1.427 billion

Profit: $836 million

Assets: $28.956 billion

Market value: $5.454 billion

24. Alexandria Real Estate Equities | United States

Sales: $1.591 billion

Profit: $245 million

Assets: $19.702 billion

Market value: $19.824 billion

25. Essex Property Trust | United States

Sales: $1.478 billion

Profit: $439 million

Assets: $12.705 billion

Market value: $16.155 billion

26. Dexus | Australia

Sales: $642 million

Profit: $1.076 billion

Assets: $12.535 billion

Market value: $6.544 billion

27. Fibra Uno Administracion SA de CV | Mexico

Sales: $1.005 billion

Profit: $965 million

Assets: $14.975 billion

Market value: $3.262 billion

28. VICI Properties Inc | United States

Sales: $895 million

Profit: $546 million

Assets: $13.266 billion

Market value: $8.163 billion

29. Duke Realty Corporation | United States

Sales: $935 million

Profit: $402 million

Assets: $8.574 billion

Market value: $12.782 billion

30. Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust | Canada

Sales: $592 million

Profit: $901 million

Assets: $10.810 billion

Market value: $5.866 billion

31. Healthpeak Properties | United States

Sales: $1.997 billion

Profit: $44 million

Assets: $14.033 billion

Market value: $13.217 billion

32. Extra Space Storage | United States

Sales: $1.321 billion

Profit: $419 million

Assets: $8.532 billion

Market value: $11.427 billion

33. Chimera Investment Corp. | United States

Sales: $987 million

Profit: $414 million

Assets: $27.119 billion

Market value: $1.455 billion

34. Klepierre (Ex Locabail) | France

Sales: $1.807 billion

Profit: $364 million

Assets: $27.656 billion

Market value: $5.836 billion

35. Mid-America Apartment Communities | United States

Sales: $1.643 billion

Profit: $353 million

Assets: $11.230 billion

Market value: $12.790 billion