Average short interest across US equity real estate investment trusts had a modest increase in November, increasing 17 basis points from the previous month to 3.6% of shares outstanding, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Healthcare sector logs largest increase in short interest

The healthcare sector had the biggest gain in average short interest across all property types, with a 69-basis-point hike from the previous month to 5.4% of shares outstanding as of Nov. 29.

Within the healthcare segment, Ventas Inc. had the largest rise in short interest, up 3.2 percentage points to 5.1% of shares outstanding, making it the second-biggest gainer across the entire REIT industry in November.

Another healthcare REIT, National Health Investors Inc., posted a significant hike of 1.9 percentage points to 4.9% of shares outstanding during the same period. The REIT also took fourth place in the list of top short interest gainers during the month.

Two more healthcare REITs made it to the list of 10 biggest gainers for November: Sila Realty Trust Inc. by 1.4 percentage points and Medical Properties Trust Inc. by 1.3 percentage points.

The other retail segment — which consists of single tenant and outlet centers — had the second-biggest increase among all REIT sectors, posting a 39-basis-point hike in average short interest to 5.2% of shares outstanding as of Nov. 29. Single tenant REIT NETSTREIT Corp. made it on the overall list of REITs with the biggest short-interest gains, posting a 1.7-percentage-point increase to 8.7% of shares outstanding.

The shopping center sector saw an increase of 39 basis points in its average short interest to 2.9% of its shares outstanding at the end of November. Shopping center REIT Acadia Realty Trust led the increase within its own sector and had the greatest hike in short interest across all US REITs, at 4.5 percentage points to 6.9% of shares outstanding as of November-end.

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On the other side of the spectrum, the advertising segment saw the steepest decline in average short interest across all property types, falling 30 basis points from the prior month to 4.7% of shares outstanding as of Nov. 29.

Within the sector, OUTFRONT Media Inc. reported the biggest drop, declining 38 basis points to 7.2% of its outstanding shares. The other advertising REIT in the analysis, Lamar Advertising Co., also dropped during the same period, falling 22 basis points to 2.3% of shares outstanding.

The regional mall segment logged the second-biggest decline, down 23 basis points to 4.0% of shares outstanding on average. The self-storage sector came in third, declining 4 basis points in average short interest to 2.0% of shares outstanding.

Overall, energy infrastructure-focused Power REIT posted the biggest short-interest loss in November, down 2.3 percentage points to 2.7% of shares outstanding. Office REITs SL Green Realty Corp. and Douglas Emmett Inc. both followed with short interest losses of 1.6 percentage points each.

REITs with the largest short positions

Healthcare-focused Medical Properties Trust was still the most-shorted US REIT stock, with 230.3 million shares sold short, or 38.4% of shares outstanding.

Office REIT Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. was the second most-shorted US REIT stock with 17.7% of shares outstanding sold short. Hotel-focused Pebblebrook Hotel Trust followed at 14.3% of shares outstanding.