REITs and Real Estate Index Funds - amechine/finance GitHub Wiki

REITs

A Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is a corporation, trust, or association that invests directly in income-producing real estate like office buildings, warehouses, shopping malls, or apartments. REITs are traded like stocks and pay shareholders regular dividends as income stream.

Residential REITs

• apartments
• Examples: AvalonBay Communities (AVB), Equity Residential (EQR)

Industrial REITs

• office buildings, warehouses and logistics
• Examples: Prologis (PLD), Duke Realty (DRE)

Healthcare REITs

• hospitals and senior living
• Examples: Welltower (WELL), Ventas (VTR)

Retail REITs

• shopping malls and outlets
• Examples: Regency Centers (REG), Simon Property Group (SPG)

Specialty REITs

• Equinix (EQIX) focusing on data centers
• American Tower (AMT) focusing on wireless communications towers
• Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB) on hotels
• Realty Income (O) on diversified commercial real estate

Real Estate Index Funds

Real estate index funds are ETFs or mutual fund that invests in securities offered by public real estate companies, including REITs and other real estete related stocks. They do not directly own properties.

Risks

Property price

Interest rates

Overall economic conditions