Investors have good reason to be concerned about the real-estate market. It has been obvious for decades that the U.S. has too many retail properties, and now, changing work habits promise to put downward pressure on office lease prices for years to come. But there are always companies that are expected to buck the trends.
REITs have tax advantages — income taxes are avoided at the corporate level if at least 90% of earnings are passed through to shareholders through dividend payments. So REITs are generally considered current-income investments. An investor hopes to see the dividend payouts increase over time. So the REITs listed below are sorted by dividend yield.
REIT stock screen For a broad screen of the REIT space, we began with the Russell 3000 Index RUA , which is designed to represent about 98% of companies that are publicly listed in the U.S. The index includes 177 REITs of all types. There are two broad categories for REITs: Equity REITs own and rent out properties or sell them for a profit after acquiring, developing or improving them. TMortgage REITs are primarily lenders or investors in mortgage-backed securities.