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REITs

REITs let you own a slice of office buildings, warehouses, apartments or data centers without becoming a landlord. By law, US REITs must distribute at least 90% of taxable income to shareholders.

Why people search for reits

Get real-estate cash-flow exposure without buying a property directly.

Every listing below is editorially independent — MoneyMoodBoard does not earn commissions on any of them. Numeric fields cite primary sources (regulator filings, operator pricing pages) on the individual listing page.

41 listings as of June 2026

Key attributes for reits

Dividend yield·Sector·Market cap·Payout

What to look for in reits

Use this checklist before committing to any reits listed above: editorial criteria that consistently separate well-run products from the rest. Each point applies to most listings in the category, including those we have not yet reviewed in detail.

Sector exposure

REIT sectors behave very differently. Industrial and data-center REITs ride secular demand from e-commerce and cloud computing. Office REITs face a structural headwind from hybrid work. Residential and self-storage tend to be more defensive. Don't treat REITs as a single asset class.

FFO and payout ratio

Compare REITs on FFO and AFFO multiples, not P/E. A payout ratio above 100% of AFFO is a warning sign that distributions exceed cash generation and may need to be cut. Sustainable yields usually pair with payout ratios in the 70-90% range.

Balance sheet

Real estate runs on debt. Check the debt-to-EBITDA ratio, weighted average debt maturity, and the percentage of floating-rate borrowing. REITs with heavy near-term maturities at floating rates suffer most when the Fed tightens.

Occupancy and same-store growth

Occupancy rate and same-store NOI growth tell you whether the underlying properties are filling up and raising rents, or losing tenants. Both metrics are reported quarterly. Declining occupancy combined with rising debt costs is the standard REIT distress pattern.

What are reits?

REITs are real estate investment trusts. The five short sections below walk through how they work, who they suit, the main risks, where they fit in a broader plan, and the US regulatory rules that govern them today.

How REITs work

A REIT owns or finances real estate and trades like a stock. Equity REITs collect rent from properties; mortgage REITs earn interest from real-estate loans.

Who they suit

Investors who want real-estate exposure and high current income, without the work and concentration of owning a single property.

Key risks

REIT share prices are sensitive to interest rates, can fall hard in recessions that hurt occupancy, and pay non-qualified dividends taxed at ordinary income rates in taxable accounts.

Fit in a broader plan

A small REIT allocation (5-10% of equity) adds a real-asset tilt and an income stream that doesn't perfectly correlate with broad equities. Hold REITs in tax-advantaged accounts when possible, because most REIT dividends fail the qualified-dividend test and are taxed at ordinary rates.

US regulatory context

To qualify as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code, a company must distribute at least 90% of taxable income, hold at least 75% of assets in real estate, and meet ownership and income tests. Publicly traded REITs are SEC-registered like any other stock.

REITs glossary

These are the terms you will see most often across reits listings, statements, prospectuses and support docs. Skim them once so the rest of the page, and every product page in this category, reads cleanly the next time you visit.

FFO
Funds from operations — REIT cash earnings, net income plus depreciation and amortization.
AFFO
Adjusted FFO — FFO minus recurring capital expenditures. Closer to true free cash flow.
NOI
Net operating income — property revenue minus operating expenses, before interest and depreciation.
Cap rate
NOI divided by property value. The yield a property generates before financing costs.
Equity REIT
A REIT that owns and operates income-producing real estate.
Mortgage REIT
A REIT that holds real-estate loans rather than property, earning the spread between borrowing and lending rates.
Triple net lease
Tenant pays taxes, insurance and maintenance. Common in net-lease REITs like Realty Income.
Section 199A
Tax-code provision letting REIT shareholders deduct 20% of qualifying dividends from taxable income.

Related listings in other categories

Investors comparing reits often weigh adjacent categories that solve a similar job from a different angle. The cards below jump to sibling sections of the directory where the same money could plausibly be put to work or compared.

Stocks & Shares

Direct ownership in publicly traded companies, bought and sold one share at a time.

ETFs

Baskets of securities that trade on a stock exchange like a single share.

Mutual Funds

Pooled investment vehicles, most often actively managed, that price once a day at NAV.

REITs: common questions

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