It’s certainly very encouraging to see the early signs of recovery and momentum across the markets following the economic impact of Covid-19. The real estate industry has been a hot topic during the pandemic as the persistent bull run across the residential sector has flown in the face of what many had predicted. However, there’s no doubt that commercial & retail suffered enormously throughout 2020. Therefore, it’s been extremely positive to see that since the start of the year property stocks across these sectors have rebounded significantly rising by an average of 9.3% as reported by Property Week at the beginning of April.

U+I showed the biggest increase in Q1 2021, after a big setback in 2020. They were at a high of £1.15 in April, but plummeted to 51p in October. However, across Q1 their share price has leaped 50% from 61p to 91p.

In January, U+I’s new Chief Executive, Richard Upton, told Property Week that he was aiming for the company to make a profit by the end of the year. Since then, U+I have received planning permission for three different developments across the South East of England as well as selling four residential properties in Brighton.

As the vaccine programme gets rolled out the government has confirmed plans for lockdown restrictions easing offering some cause for confidence. This has had a knock-on effect on retail firms, as they’ve seen the biggest rises since January. Hammerson saw their share price jump 42.5% from 23p to 32.9p during this period.

In 2020, Hammerson’s portfolio value dropped dramatically from £8.3bn to £6.34bn and losses more than doubled to £1.7bn. However, Rita-Rose Gagné, the company’s new Chief Executive said that she expected to the company recover well at the end of lockdown.

Specialist retail REIT NewRiver also saw a healthy jump of 20% in their share price, from 79.8p to 95.9p, as well as Shaftesbury, who have enjoyed a 17.9% increase from £5.45 to £6.42 during Q1 2021.

Property stocks falling in price

The resurgence is not unilateral however, with a small number seeing a fall in value across Q1 2021.

Primary Healthcare Properties have managed to weather much of the COVID-19 storm as they invest in GP surgeries across the UK and Ireland, but they have experienced a 3.4% fall in share price, from £1.53 to £1.48.

SEGRO, a FTSE 100 logistics specialist experienced a 4.5% decrease in share price to £9.33 in Q1 of 2021, despite seeing a steady rise during the pandemic thanks to increased demand for logistics space.

However, overall, the FTSE 250 has risen steadily since that dramatic plummet of the Dow immediately after the impact of COVID-19 was realised. In Q1 2021, the index rose a healthy 4.6%.