Issues of real estate have been almost as crazy as most other markets have been of late. Massive surges back during the pandemic as people looked for dream homes to bunker down in, followed by equally massive surges in interest rates that kept several from even looking, it was an all-around mess. It’s also hit Blackstone (NYSE:BX), which is seeing redemption requests and its stock price slide.
Blackstone received $4.4 billion worth of redemption requests back in May. That sounds like quite a bit, but it’s actually down slightly from April’s figures that featured $4.5 billion in redemption requests. And it’s also down from January, which saw its highest level of requests. However, all of these took place in a seven-month period where Blackstone capped redemption requests. So far, over the last eight months, Blackstone’s real estate investment trust has paid out $7.5 billion to shareholders looking for redemptions.
This may not sound all that good, and in a lot of ways, it isn’t. However, Blackstone has other irons in the fire that should help out. It’s made great strides with urban warehouses. No less than Alfred Brooks, JPMorgan’s head of commercial real estate, believes that Blackstone will save the urban office market from catastrophe thanks to its Blackstone Real Estate Partners X fund that raised $30.4 billion in capital commitments. Though here, the fund shifted its focus away from offices and over toward rental housing and the recovering hospitality market.
While there’s some doubt about Blackstone’s overall future, analysts are pretty satisfied with things so far. Blackstone stock is considered a Moderate Buy, thanks to 11 Buy ratings, three Holds, and one Sell. With an average price target of $100.46, investors are in line for 17.47% upside potential as well.
