LONDON (Reuters) – Jeffrey Sherman, Deputy CIO at DoubleLine, sees some “pockets” of opportunity in commercial real estate, including offices, after bond markets rallied this year.
Sherman, who helps to manage almost $100 billion in assets, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that U.S. commercial real-estate debt with yields of 8.5% to 9% on single A-rated bonds provide juicy returns as the economy heads for recession.
“Now, you don’t want to load the portfolio with it. But there’s nothing wrong with owning some of those,” Sherman said.
“I am not trying to make a big blanket bet on offices, but there is still a strong development in offices,” he added, pointing to U.S. secondary cities, such as Denver, Portland and Seattle where people have moved to since the pandemic.
Sherman said he is also keen on residential mortagages. Confidence among U.S. single-family homebuilders improved for the first time in more than a year in January, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index shows, a sign the housing slump may have reached a bottom.
“If you’re a homeowner in the U.S. and you’ve purchased a home, say in the past five years, you are up massively,” a signal that a big selloff in housing is unlikely.
(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe, writing by Chiara Elisei; Editing by Barbara Lewis)
