Laurel Durkay, head of global listed real assets at Morgan Stanley, was a guest on the latest edition of the Nareit REIT Report podcast.

Durkay said REITs today are “cheap” versus broader equities. “They do screen attractively versus private real estate. They look compelling versus where REITs have historically traded, and they look pretty fairly valued versus fixed income. The macro backdrop is favorable with interest rate stabilization and the increasing likelihood of cuts this year… I think valuations look attractive.”

Despite this backdrop, negative rhetoric about the real estate sector “and the potential for the other shoe to drop” persists, Durkay said. “Investors in Europe and Asia really do want to learn more about real estate, but it's hard to move past that conversation of the fate of offices in big U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco,” she noted.