A previously gloomy corner of the debt world has become the biggest winning trade in global financial markets, producing returns that few traders have seen in more than a decade. Hybrids, the riskiest slice of a real estate company’s debt, have returned more than 75% this year. For the top 10 performers for the securities also known as subordinated bonds, returns amount to about 170% in the period, beating Nvidia Corp.
’s stock, the darling of the AI craze, by 20 percentage points. It’s the kind of swift turnaround that few could have predicted when landlords around the world were creaking under the weight of higher interest rates and changing work habits following the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, real estate debt is becoming an early winner from major central banks cutting borrowing costs amid a pivot to prioritizing the economy over battling inflation.
“I cannot recall something similar in my career,” said Andrea Seminara, chief executive officer at London-based Redhedge Asset Management, who started working in finance at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. “The magnitude of the gains is unprecedented, unless we look at pure distressed situations.” Landlords’ subordinated bonds had plunged nearly 50% after central banks began to increase rates in 2022.
Higher borrowing costs meant the cost to replace them shot up, leaving investors fearful that repayment would be delayed indefinitely. Companies can also sometimes skip coupons on the notes without tr.