Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”) Primer

January 2024

Real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) are a type of investment vehicle that enables investors to gain exposure to commercial real estate via public markets.

This primer defines what a REIT is, explains the different REIT property types, discusses the characteristics of the REIT market, and reviews REIT’s historical risk and return profile. We focus on domestic listed public equity REITs, which are highly liquid financial instruments that provide exposure to different parts of the US real estate market.