Investing in Public REITs (eg EQR) For Pricing Concessions

[Jordan Burnett]

I know this is not exactly a mulitfamily topic, but it is related. Are any of you taking advantage of the pricing arbitrage on public REITs during this pandemic to get ahold of some actual discounts? 

Pricing concessions don't seem to be occurring in multifamily sales (yet). However, public REITs that hold multifamily properties (like Equity Residential [EQR]) are down around 40%. If the underlying assets of the REIT are the same assets you're investing in with private placements or funds...why wouldn't you pick up shares of a REIT right now? Issue with the asset class? The volatility? Tax downsides? 

(The same could be said for self storage, mobile home parks, etc.) 

Just curious to get your thoughts. I do know that some investors actually take this route but I wanted to get the BP community's perspective.