What Active REIT Managers Bought And Sold In Q1 2026
We recently began tracking other active managers of REITs and non-REIT real estate stocks.
While we all like to think of ourselves as wholly original thinkers, the truth is that we are always listening to the ideas of others and borrowing (or stealing) the most compelling ones. That’s just how the human brain works. In his book How Innovation Works, Matt Ridley describes innovation not as something wholly unique or sui generis but rather a process of ideas interbreeding in new ways.
We watch what other smart REIT investors do not to mindlessly copy them, but rather to understand their thinking and their levels of conviction.
We don’t ride any investor’s coattails, no matter how much we respect them.
For example, we pay very close attention to Jonathan Litt of Land & Buildings, as we find him an incisive and contrarian thinker in the REIT space. But we still disagree with Litt at times, and we recognize that he (like all investors) can make mistakes.
With that said, let’s take a look at the Q1 2026 trades of the select group of active REIT investors we follow.
Starwood Capital Group
Billionaire commercial real estate investor Barry Sternlicht leads this investment group that focuses primarily on direct property ownership. That’s what makes Starwood’s REIT investments so interesting. The company is not a dedicated REIT fund. It does not need to own any REITs at all. At times in the past, the company has not owned any individual stocks or REITs at all.
So, the fact that it does allocate capital to REITs is a signal that Sternlicht and his top executives are very bullish on them as long-term investments.
Most of Starwood’s handful of holdings have been held multiple years now with occasional additions over time.
As you can see, there were only two trades in Q1.
Starwood participated in the IPO of Janus Living (JAN), a pure-play senior housing REIT externally managed by Healthpeak Properties (DOC). They purchased ~$12 million of shares and are already up 13% on their cost basis. Given JAN’s ~28x FFO multiple, this is certainly a signal of the investor bullishness on senior housing.
Demographics are destiny, and the supply-demand balance is tilted very favorably toward landlords today. Note that we recently invested in National Health Investors (NHI) to get cheaper exposure to this sector. You can read our investment thesis by clicking here.
Starwood also sold its entire stake in Veris Residential (VRE) after the REIT agreed to be acquired by an investor group led by private equity firm Affinius Capital for a 23% premium to its pre-acquisition pricing.
Overall, however, Starwood’s biggest bet is on a recovery in Sunbelt multifamily via its large holdings in Camden Property Trust (CPT), Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA), and Nexpoint Residential (NXRT), together making up 63.6% of the REIT portfolio.
