"Equity Investment in REIT stock much greater than S & P 500 & NASDAQ"


Fifty years ago, President Eisenhower signed legislation that created the REIT, a new approach to income producing real estate investment, combining the attributes of real estate and stock based investments.



FTSE NAREIT US Real Estate Index Series data dates back to 1972 when there were a mere 34 publicly traded REITs with a total $1.5 billion equity market capitalization. Today, there are 149 listed REITs with an equity market capitalization of $332 billion. As report REIT magazine, in other words, the equity market cap of the industry has grown in size at an average of 15 percent per year for nearly 39 years.



Looking at returns, equity REITs have produced great compound annual total returns since the start of 1972, averaging nearly 12 percent per year. This compares to a 9.8 percent return in that period from the S & P 500.



The returns for an investor have been fantastic. If an investor put $100 in the S & P 500 at the beginning of 1972, it would be worth $3,763 today. If that person invested a $100 in the NASDAQ, it would be worth only $2,076.



If that person had the foresight to make the same $100 investment in an equity REIT, today it would be worth $7,770, more than double the return in the S & P 500 index.

FROM Michael Stoler Real Estate Report @ stolerreport.com