manulife us reits units dropped in early trading after it guided for a firsthalf loss and said it had breached a financial covenant amid a slowdown in officemarket activity in the us the reits units were down 28 at us012 wednesday morning in singapore on track for their biggest oneday loss since the companys listing in 2016 manulife us said tuesday that it expects to post a loss in the first half news that came after the value of its properties was assessed to have fallen 15 from the end of 2022 it attributed the decline to higher discount and terminal capitalization rates for some properties posed by the volatile macroeconomic environment as well as weak occupancy levels across the us office market amid a slowdown in demand and leasing activity us office valuations remain under pressure and are likely to decline further in 2023 it said the valuation drop broke a financial covenant in some of the trusts existing loans it said the reit said it is already in talks with lenders to seek a waiver for the breach to prevent a cross default in its interestrate swaps it is also working to address liquidity needs including by potentially selling some of its assets singaporelisted manulife us said that valuation of its properties had fallen to us163 billion at the end of june from us191 billion at the end of 2022 the reit has a portfolio of office real estate and related assets in the us