Swedish real estate falls as interest rates rebound on US job growth
06/02/2023 12:51
** Swedish real estate stocks fall after interest rates
rebounded on strong U.S. employment figures on Friday while
companies' Q4 reports also spike uncertainty
** Stockholm-listed Fabege FABG.ST , Fastighets AB Balder
BALDb.ST , SBB SBBb.ST , Wallenstam WALLb.ST , Sagax
SAGAb.ST , Castellum CAST.ST and Wihlborgs WIHL.ST are down
between 4% and 9% in early afternoon trade
** Carlsquare analyst Bertil Nilsson flags that interest
rates rebounded on Friday after the strong U.S. jobs numbers
** "Higher interest rates mean higher interest costs on real
estate companies' loans and potentially higher yields on
companies' properties," he says
** Fabege FABG.ST and Vasakronan VASA.UL both reported
Q4 results on Monday, with impairments equivalent to 4% and 3%
of their respective property portfolio values
** While Fabege reports positive Q4 net lettings of SEK 17
mln ($1.6 mln), it says companies are holding off on decisions
on new lettings for now
** "That may have spiked market uncertainty slightly today,
which was also marked by an upward interest rate cycle in the US
following Friday's strong employment figures," Nilsson says
** Fabege, which fell around 3% ahead of its earnings
release at 1100 GMT, was trading down 9% at 1240 GMT, at the
bottom of the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX
($1 = 10.5485 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Greta Rosén Fondahn and Louise Breusch Rasmussen)
((Greta.RosenFondahn@tr.com, Louisebreusch.rasmussen@tr.com))