CHICAGO, IL, April 25, 2014 – The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) has released first quarter 2014 results of the NCREIF Timberland Index. The index
returned 1.60% for the quarter, which was split between 0.91% appreciation and 0.69% income. This was down from fourth quarter’s 5.92% total return, but the highest first quarter since 2008. First quarter 2013 returned 1.53%.
The rolling four quarter total return was 9.77%, split 2.64% income and 6.99% appreciation. This is a slight increase from last quarter’s 9.69% and the highest rolling four quarter return since third quarter 2008.
The Northwest was the best performing region with a 1.74% total return. That just exceeded the South’s 1.68%. The Northwest’s return was split 0.55% appreciation and 1.20% income. The rolling four quarter return for the region increased to 18.12%, compared to 17.44% last quarter and 14.07% a year ago. The Northeast was the worst performing region with a 0.57% return. This was the fourth consecutive quarter that the Northeast was the worst performing region. It was also the fourth consecutive quarter of negative appreciation.
Mary Ellen Aronow, Senior Forest Economist at Hancock Timber Resource Group and Chair of the NCREIF Timberland Committee commented “In the first quarter of 2014, off shore wood demand, in particular demand from China, continued strong , reflected in record setting prices for timber in the Pacific Northwest. At the same time, U.S. housing recovery continued at a modest pace supporting increased timber harvest volumes across the U.S. The outlook for timber and timberland performance is positive – and the timberland market proved more active during the first quarter of 2014 compared to the first quarter of 2013, with timberland transaction activity increasing.”
The NCREIF Timberland Index consists of 461 investment-grade timber properties worth almost $24 billion. This includes 326 properties in the South, 90 in the Northwest, 16 in the Lake States, and 28 in the Northeast. This data enhances the ability of institutional investors to price the risk of timberland investments across the United States.
(View graphs and charts in PDF format)
Webinar
NCREIF will hold a webinar on Wednesday, May 7, at 1 pm Central Time to discuss an overview of the NCREIF Property Index (NPI) and the NCREIF Fund Index – Open End Diversified Core Equity (NFI-ODCE), the Farmland and Timberland Indices, as well as a detailed discussion of the results and interesting data from the NCREIF Property Value Trends report. The conference call is being webcast live and can be accessed here. An online replay of the webcast will be available on NCREIF’s website at www.NCREIF.org.
The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) is an association of professionals with significant involvement and interest in pension fund real estate investments who come together to address vital industry issues and to promote research on the asset class.
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