Net lease deal flow for REITs has been steady over the last six months, according to panelists at this year's GlobeSt Net Lease conference in Los Angeles – but the environment appears to be "resetting" a bit amid ongoing market uncertainty.

"I think if we look back to Q1, it was largely apparent that the industry was trying to find its footing in terms of price and accelerating off the heels of Q4 2022 and the market turmoil in the rate environment," said Keith Griffin, VP Acquisitions at Spirit Realty Capital. "That made Q1, I would say, a little bit lighter than what we were anticipating….but now it feels like we're in another environment where we're resetting here."

Griffin's co-panelist Balji Dashdorj, Vice President of Acquisitions at Four Corners Property Trust, agreed, noting that deal flow became more challenging in the second quarter as rates continued to rise. He also noted that in Q2 and Q3 of last year, his firm realized sale-leasebacks were more in their favor: "Being able to pick up some of those longer term leases and benefit from constructing a lease that we're more in control of with our tenants just works well for us," he told the audience. "And they are also just better deals overall compared to what we were seeing in the existing net lease space."