Liberty Property's Q4 Holds Up in Recession

MALVERN, PA-Despite a deteriorating economy, Liberty Property Trust experienced “one of our strongest leasing periods ever,” said Chairman and CEO Bill Hankowsky, during the REIT’s fourth-quarter conference call. Across its 700-building office and industrial portfolio, the firm leased 5.8 million square feet during the period.

Though occupancy dipped from 92% in the third quarter to 91.3% in the fourth quarter, other fundamentals showed improvement. The Q4 FFO per share was at 80 cents, up from 79 cents during the same year-ago period, while net income per share came in at 53 cents, increasing from 39 cents.

But Hankowsky sees a tough year to come with the recession chipping away at corporations’ workforces. “We think 2009 will be a very tough year on the fundamental side,” he says. “Our major concern is what we can’t control–the affect of the downturn on our tenant base.”