Category Archives: U.S. Realty & Improvement

Currently, there is evidence to suggest that a new era in property investment has emerged.  Well managed and capitalized real estate investment trusts, more popularly known as REITs, are able to access the capital markets for funding malls, office buildings, hospitals, apartment building and mortgage financing. Long-term income is generated for investors and retirements are secured through the investment in REITs.

However, the history of real estate investment trusts is obscured by legal entanglements, trust busting, name changing and bankruptcies.  With a goal of unveiling the industry and its murky history, we’ll be posting stock price performance of REITs in some of the most volatile periods.

The history of REITs can be broken into several distinct periods:

• 1886 to 1935
• 1960 to 1980
• 1980 to present

We’ll highlight anecdotal data from various companies from each respective period with added insight about how and why some of these companies, as reflections of the REIT industry, didn’t do as well as expected.  The goal of these articles is to give potential investors the needed perspective for proper risk assessment.

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