Definition

Noun: A real estate investment trust is a company that owns, operates, or finances income-generating real estate. It allows individuals to invest in large-scale, income-producing real estate portfolios in a manner similar to how they invest in other industries—through the purchase of stock. These shares are typically traded on major stock exchanges.

Usage

A real estate investment trust is a specific type of investment vehicle. It is used to describe the company or trust itself. * Many retirees include real estate investment trusts in their portfolios for dividend income. * The real estate investment trust specializes in owning shopping malls across the country.

Advanced Usage

• "to qualify as a real estate investment trust": Refers to a company meeting specific legal and tax criteria (e.g., distributing most of its taxable income to shareholders) to be classified as this type of trust.
  • The corporation restructured its assets to qualify as a real estate investment trust.

Variants and Related Words

• REIT (noun): The standard acronym for "real estate investment trust."
  • The healthcare REIT performed well this quarter.
• Equity REIT (noun): A type of REIT that owns and operates income-producing real estate.
• Mortgage REIT (noun): A type of REIT that provides financing for income-producing real estate by purchasing or originating mortgages and mortgage-backed securities.

Synonyms

• Property trust: A term sometimes used interchangeably, particularly in certain regions.
• Real estate trust: A less common, more general synonym.

Related Phrases

• Publicly traded REIT: A REIT whose shares are listed on a national securities exchange.
  • Investing in a publicly traded REIT offers high liquidity.
• Private REIT: A REIT that is not registered with the SEC and whose shares do not trade on national stock exchanges.
  • The private REIT is only available to accredited investors.

Noun

1. an investment trust that owns and manages a pool of commercial properties and mortgages and other real estate assets; shares can be bought and sold in the stock market