One of the few bright spots for REIT investors during what’s been a dismal last couple months has been the data center sector. Forbes magazines reports that whereas overal, REITs had to weather losses of 25.4 percent during the first quarter of 2020, data centers turned in a result of 8.8 percent growth. There are five REITs currently active in this space: Digital Realty Trust, Equinix Inc., CyrusOne, CoreSite Realty and QTS Realty Trust. This group outperformed even self-storage REITs, which are a traditional safe harbor in terms of economic upheaval. But pandemics may prove to be a natural performed during a health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not just that the current situation disrupted shopping patterns in favor of online sales of just about everything. Millions of Americans have been working from home and using popular upstart video conferencing programs like Zoom. Having realized how simple it is to use and set up, they’ve begun using it en masse to re-connect with family and friends as well. All of these conversations and online orders require a robust data center infrastructure and points to greater demand in the future.
