Nuveen Global Cities REIT Portfolio Update

Richard M. Kimble
Portfolio Management, Americas
Gracie Coburn
Portfolio Management, Global Cities REIT
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Nuveen Global Cities REIT, Inc. (Global Cities REIT) is continuing to seek value for our investors on a global scale, while constructing and managing a portfolio that can provide resilience through both short-term and long-term market impacts. While real estate property fundamentals continue to remain strong in most sectors and most markets, capital market headwinds exist in the form of higher interest rates and decreased liquidity triggering downward pressure on valuations for private real estate. Management believes these market disruptions will provide attractive buying opportunities in 2023.

With this said, the REIT has seen write downs in the portfolio which are expected in the current market environment. Positive April returns were primarily driven by the REIT’s income return with modest valuation increases to the U.S. direct property portfolio as well as the real estate securities sleeve that were offset by value declines in the international portfolio.

Nuveen Global Cities REIT’s portfolio is positioned well in this environment given its 1) allocation 2) leverage and 3) approach to interest rates. 1) The REIT has a combined 82% allocation to industrial, housing, healthcare, and selfstorage, all of which have proven to be resilient to current economic headwinds, as evidenced by the REIT’s healthy balance sheet, durable cash flow, and high occupancy rates of 98%. 2) The REIT’s conservative leverage position (16.66% LTV) allows for downside protection in a negative return environment and dry powder on our credit facility for the opportunity to invest in re-priced assets in a distressed setting. 3) Additionally, the REIT’s 6% allocation to floating rate mortgage originations provides increasing investment income, which offsets rising interest rate expenses, allowing the REIT to avoid cash flow erosion and be interest rate agnostic.

Performance highlights

Investment highlight - Brighton Self-Storage

In March 2023, Global Cities REIT closed on a core, purpose-built self-storage facility in Denver, CO. The property was built in 2003 and has 716 individual storage units. The property is located in Brighton, 25 miles northeast of downtown Denver. The submarket is expected to grow by 60% over the next 20 years according to traffic data, making it the fastest growing segment off I-76 with 28k cars driving by daily. Population demographics are strong with 3-mile median household income of $113k and expected population growth of 2.7% per annum from 2022 to 2027.

The self-storage sector has been a desirable property type over the last decade due to its low capital expenditure needs, low operational intensity, and low obsolescence risk. Given the inherent non-cyclical demand drivers and thus stable demand, this property type is considered defensive and has ultimately outperformed traditional sectors throughout multiple real estate cycles. Going forward, self-storage is projected to continue outperforming given the sector’s favorable net operating income growth forecast and low capital expenditures relative to traditional sectors.

Nuveen Real Estate, remains fully capable of investing and supporting all of its client portfolios and is committed to the welfare of its employees and clients. We have the benefit of the resources, preparations, and strategy across Nuveen Real Estate and its parent, TIAA, a 100-year-old company with more than $1.1 trillion of assets under management as of 31 Mar 2023. TIAA’s $300 million investment into Global Cities REIT remains a key feature, providing true co-alignment and attention from Nuveen Real Estate and its leadership team.

We believe that Global Cities REIT’s commitment to quality, diversification, and strategic portfolio construction will continue to offer investors a competitive advantage.

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Certain information contained in this document constitutes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “likely,” or the negative versions of these words or other comparable words thereof. These may include our ability to successfully navigate through the current economic uncertainty, our financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements about plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, and statements regarding future performance. Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and there are or may be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements. We believe such factors include the financial condition of our company and our portfolio and the state of financial markets. We believe these factors also include but are not limited to those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 Dec 2022, and any such updated factors included in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as otherwise required by federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Performance data shown represents past performance and does not predict or guarantee future results.

1 r. Class T shares and Class S shares listed as (With sales load) reflect the returns after the maximum upfront selling commission and dealer manager fees of 3.5%. Class D shares listed as (With sales load) reflect the returns after the maximum upfront selling commission of 1.5%. Class T shares, Class S shares, and Class D shares listed as (No sales load) exclude up-front selling commissions and dealer manager fee. Returns are annualized for periods longer than one year. The returns have been prepared using unaudited data and valuations of the underlying investments in GCREIT’s portfolio, which are estimates of fair value and form the basis for GCREIT’s NAV. Valuations based upon unaudited reports from the underlying investments may be subject to later adjustments, may not correspond to realized value and may not accurately reflect the price at which assets could be liquidated. Performance data shown represents past performance and does not predict or guarantee future results.. For the year ended 31 Dec 2022 and the three months ended 31 Mar 2023, we reported GAAP net losses of $(54.1) million and $(3.3) million, respectively.

2NAV is calculated in accordance with the valuation guidelines approved by our board of directors. NAV is not a measure used under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), and you should not consider NAV to be equivalent to stockholders’ equity or any other GAAP measure. As of 31 Mar 2023, our NAV per share was approximately $12.42, $12.29, $12.46 and $12.41, per Class T, Class S, Class D and Class I share, respectively, and total stockholders’ equity per share was approximately $10.03, $9.92, $10.06 and $10.02 per Class T, Class S, Class D and Class I share, respectively. For a full reconciliation of NAV to stockholders’ equity and a discussion of the limitations and risks associated with our valuation methodology, please see the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation - NAV Per Share” section of our annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC, which are available at www.nuveen.com/gcreit. For information on how we calculate NAV, see the “Net Asset Value Calculation and Valuation Guidelines” section of our prospectus.

3 Distribution rate reflects the most recently approved monthly annualized distributions divided by the prior month’s net asset value. Distributions paid during the year ended 31 Dec 2022 and the three months ended 31 Mar 2023 were covered 92% and 56%, respectively, from GAAP cash flow from operations and 8% and 44%, respectively, from debt and financing proceeds.

4 Total asset value is measured as the gross asset value of real estate properties (based on fair value), the investment in our real estate-related securities measured at fair value, the equity investment in unconsolidated International Affiliated Funds (which includes the allocable share of the International Affiliated Funds’ income and expense, realized gains and losses and unrealized appreciation or depreciation), any investments in commercial mortgage loans measured at fair value, plus cash and other assets, excluding restricted cash.

5 GCREIT directly owns 461 properties, including 384 single family homes, and has exposure to 35 additional properties owned by the International Affiliated Funds in which we have made an investment.

6Leverage is measured using, as the numerator, property-level and entity-level debt and as the denominator, the gross asset value of real estate assets (calculated using the greater of fair value and cost of gross real estate assets including investment in our securities portfolio, our loan portfolio, and our allocable share of investments in unconsolidated International Affiliated Funds), inclusive of property-level and entity-level debt, plus cash, other assets and excluding restricted cash.

7Inception dates for each share class are: 01 Jan 2019 for Class T shares, 01 Dec 2019 for Class S shares, 01 Jun 2018 for Class D shares, and 01 May 2018 for Class I shares.


The information provided does not take into account the specific objectives or circumstances of any particular investor, or suggest any specific course of action. Financial professionals should independently evaluate the risks associated with products or services and exercise independent judgment with respect to their clients. All information is as of 30 Apr 2023, unless otherwise disclosed.

Nuveen Real Estate is a real estate investment management holding company owned by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA). Nuveen Securities, LLC, member FINRA and SIPC, is the dealer manager for the Nuveen Global Cities REIT, Inc. offering.

Diversification of an investor’s portfolio does not assure a profit or protect against loss in a declining market.