What explains R$56.3 billion in FII issuances during a period of high interest rates?
- Billion-real issuances continue despite strong competition from fixed-income investments; five recent offerings total R$14.1 billion
Despite the recent cut in the Selic rate to 13.75% per year, interest rates remain high, keeping fixed-income investments as a major competitor for investors’ money. At the same time, real estate investment funds continue to announce billion-real issuances. What explains the willingness to expand investments and reorganize portfolios in this environment?
Just five recently announced or approved issuances total approximately R$14.1 billion. The group includes transactions involving TRX, Pátria and Kinea, with two Pátria funds appearing on the list.
Across the industry, the sum of figures released by Anbima points to approximately R$56.3 billion in FII issuances between January and August 2026: R$39.5 billion in the first half of the year alone, R$11.7 billion in July and R$5.1 billion in August.
According to Lana Santos, real estate investment fund analyst at Clube FII, a significant share of current transactions differs from the traditional issuance model, in which new shares are offered to the market to raise cash.
“The R$56 billion figure is striking, but it only makes sense when we look at where that money is coming from. Most of these transactions are not traditional issuances offered to retail investors, in which the fund raises new money and then goes shopping for assets,” she explains.
For Santos, the difficulty of raising capital directly from investors is closely linked to the very environment that makes the issuance figures so noteworthy. With several FIIs trading below net asset value and fixed-income investments still offering high returns, traditional new offerings have lost momentum.
“Issuing shares at a discount dilutes existing shareholders, and retail investors do not have much appetite to put fresh money into equities when fixed income is paying what it is today,” she says.
Santos notes that financial markets and the physical real estate market are going through different moments.
“In the stock market, the cost of capital is high and shares are trading at a discount. In the physical market, there are good opportunities available: quality assets being sold at attractive prices by owners who want or need to dispose of them. The problem for funds is not a lack of deals, but a lack of cash to pursue them.”
Fixed income vs. FIIs
Competition is intense. With the Selic rate at 13.75% per year and the CDI close to 13.6%, floating-rate fixed-income investments continue to offer high returns with lower volatility.
Among real estate investment funds, few are able to beat that benchmark through dividends alone. A survey by Economatica showed that, after the latest Selic cut, 33 FIIs had a dividend yield above the CDI. Even so, the share prices of 28 of them had fallen over the previous 12 months.
For Giancarlo Nicastro, CEO of SiiLA, this gap between dividend yield and share-price performance shows where the actual return of a real estate investment fund is ultimately determined.
“A dividend yield above the CDI while the share price is falling is not a gain. It is the market saying that the property is worth less than what was paid for it, or that it is trading cheaply. Those raising capital now are betting on the second scenario: buying at a discount while interest rates remain high. Rental income pays investors while they wait, but the real result only becomes clear when the asset is sold. That is when you find out whether the manager made a good acquisition or simply distributed income while the fund’s underlying value was shrinking,” he explains.
