Understanding Sustainability of Income is Understanding Retail Assets
At Bannon we analyse two types of sustainability, environmental sustainability attributes and the sustainability of an asset’s income. Sustainability of income is important as this considers the ability of the Occupier of the asset to pay rent to the Owner based upon the business they carry out in the building. Gaining an insight into this allows an Owner to understand whether they will maintain or improve income on the occurrence of lease events such as break clauses and expiries and also assess how solid or otherwise their income is in the context of market conditions and the implementation of asset strategy. The asset class that gives an Owner the greatest opportunity to use this analysis is retail where the performance of the business within the shop is directly relevant to the stability of income the Owner receives.
Understanding the strength of the rental income by analysing the trading and commercial performance of the rent paying occupiers puts the Investor in the strongest position to negotiate and regear lease terms, react to market requirements and devise and implement strategic asset goals. Bannon carry out rental sustainability analysis for schemes utilising our depth of retail asset and occupier specific data. The occupier’s current position will be further validated by their wider commercial performance and the effect both macro and micro economic conditions may have on the occupiers and their ability to perform.
The sustainable performance of an occupier is a key consideration for maintaining and forecasting income over the period of ownership. This gives our clients a clear advantage is assessing the value of an asset and looking at acquisition opportunities. The value of retail assets, especially shopping centres, has been depressed for some time despite their proven track record of producing strong predictable cashflows. Adopting sustainable rental analysis allows our client to see past the negative sentiment and acquire income producing assets at low cost when compared to other real estate investments.
A comprehensive understanding on a schemes rental sustainability can inform decision making when devising and asset strategy and inform cashflow forecasting. This can aide in de-risking cash flow line items for owners over their ownership period. Understanding rental sustainability can serve as a means of curating the schemes occupier mix and planning strategic initiatives. Overall, the ability to enhance the knowledge and understanding of income for the owner serves as a means to promote good asset management and to improve income over the term of ownership.
If you would like to know more about Bannon’s approach to rental sustainability analysis and how it can strengthen your asset strategy, please get in touch @ Consutancy@bannon.ie.
Author: George Colyer, Surveyor, Bannon
Date: 17th April 2023
