What is a good payout ratio for REITs?
Typically, a REIT with a payout ratio between 35% and 60% is considered ideal and safe from dividend cuts, while ratios between 60% and 75% are moderately safe, and payout ratios above 75% are considered unsafe. As a payout ratio approaches 100% of earnings, it generally portends a high risk for a dividend cut.
Payout ratio
Be sure you're comparing the dividend to FFO, not to a REIT's net income. REITs tend to have higher-than-average payout ratios, and 70–80% of FFO is common. But if this percentage is too close to (or higher than) 100%, a dividend cut could be on the horizon.
So, what counts as a “good” dividend payout ratio? Generally speaking, a dividend payout ratio of 30-50% is considered healthy, while anything over 50% could be unsustainable.
To qualify as a REIT, a company must have the bulk of its assets and income connected to real estate investment and must distribute at least 90 percent of its taxable income to shareholders annually in the form of dividends.
The dividend payout ratio is one metric that can be used to determine how much a company pays out to its shareholders in relation to the overall earnings it generates. For example, if a company has an EPS (earnings per share) of $1.00 and pays out dividends of $0.80, its dividend payout ratio would be 80%.
- Cap rates (Net operating income / property value)
- Equity value / FFO.
- Equity value / AFFO.
On average: Leverage ratios remained modest with debt-to-market assets below 35%. Percentage of total debt at a fixed rate was 91%. Percentage of total debt that was unsecured was 79%, providing REITs with a competitive advantage over many of their private property market counterparts.
The payout ratio is calculated by taking a REIT's yearly dividend rate and dividing it by the estimated P/AFFO per share. It helps evaluate the REIT's operations cash flow after taking into account the capital expenditures and other routine maintenance costs.
High payout ratio. REITs are able to pay high dividends because they're required to pay 90% of their taxable income to shareholders. However, that taxable income doesn't include tax deductions like depreciation. That gives them some room to keep cash on hand.
Payout Ratio Basics
If a company has a dividend payout ratio over 100% then that means that the company is paying out more to its shareholders than earnings coming in. This is typically not a good recipe for the company's financial health; it can be a sign that the dividend payment will be cut in the future.
How long should I hold a REIT?
REITs should generally be considered long-term investments
This is especially true if you're planning to invest in non-traded REITs since you won't be able to easily access your money until the REIT lists its shares on a public exchange or liquidates its assets. In many cases, this can take around 10 years to occur.
In situations where all investors submit cash election forms, the dividend payout formula will result in all shareholders receiving their distribution as 20% cash and 80% stock, which means that the cash/stock dividend strategy functions analogously to a pro rata cash dividend coupled with a pro rata stock split.
The value of a REIT is based on the real estate market, so if interest rates increase and the demand for properties goes down as a result, it could lead to lower property values, negatively impacting the value of your investment.
Say a company earns $100 million this year and makes $50 million in dividend payments to its shareholders. In this case, its dividend payout ratio would be 50%. You can also use per-share amounts to get the same result. This can be simpler since companies report dividends and earnings in per-share amounts.
If a company's payout ratio is 30%, then it indicates that the company has channeled 30% of the earnings is made to be paid as dividends. Thereby, the remaining 70% of net income the company keeps with itself.
What Is a Good Dividend Yield? Yields from 2% to 6% are generally considered to be a good dividend yield, but there are plenty of factors to consider when deciding if a stock's yield makes it a good investment. Your own investment goals should also play a big role in deciding what a good dividend yield is for you.
Net Asset Value (NAV) is associated with the value of its underlying real estate assets, minus by the value of its liabilities. It is frequently calculated and compared to Mark to Market, this ratio gives an indication of whether the REIT is currently overvalued or undervalued with respect to its intrinsic value.
If a REIT's dividend yield is above its long-term average, then the trust is undervalued; conversely, if a REIT's dividend yield is below its long-term average, the trust is overvalued.
Historically, REITs tend to deliver their highest returns during early stages of the real estate recovery cycle, according to research from Nareit, an association representing the REIT industry. That could spell a strong performance for REITs moving forward.
U.S. REITs in the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs index yielded between two and 16 percent dividend depending on the property type as of November 2023. Home financing REITs had the highest yield of 16.04 percent, compared to 4.59 percent for all equity REITs.
Can you become a millionaire from REITs?
At that rate of return, a monthly investment of $300 in REITs would grow into $1 million in about 30 years. If you invested more money into REITs or those producing a higher average annual return, you could become a millionaire even faster.
| Company (ticker symbol) | Sector | Dividend yield |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Properties Trust (MPW) | Healthcare | 27.0% |
| Global Net Lease (GNL) | Diversified | 16.7% |
| AGNC Investment (AGNC) | Mortgage | 14.9% |
| ARMOUR Residential REIT (ARR) | Mortgage | 14.7% |
1. ARMOUR Residential REIT – 20.7% ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc.
Interpretation of Dividend Payout Ratio
A high DPR means that the company is reinvesting less money back into its business, while paying out relatively more of its earnings in the form of dividends.
To calculate the dividend payout ratio, the formula divides the dividend amount distributed in the period by the net income in the same period. For example, if a company issued $20 million in dividends in the current period with $100 million in net income, the payout ratio would be 20%.
