Can REITs go out of business?
REIT bankruptcies have indeed been a rarity since the REIT debacle of the mid-1970s, when high leverage and highly speculative real estate investments resulted in numerous REIT failures. Thereafter, REIT managers became far more conservative in their investment and financing practices.
Compared to other investments such as stocks and bonds, REITs are subject to various risk factors that affect the investor's returns. Some of the main risk factors associated with REITs include leverage risk, liquidity risk, and market risk.
Here's an explanation for how we make money . More than a year of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve pushed down returns on real estate investment trusts, or REITs. While higher rates negatively impacted nearly every sector of the economy in 2022 and most of 2023, real estate was hit especially hard.
REITs generate a steady income stream for investors but offer little in the way of capital appreciation. Most REITs are publicly traded like stocks, making them highly liquid—unlike most real estate investments.
REITs posted total returns north of 5% for the month, although they remain in negative territory year-to-date. On the heels of a rough month of April, the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index mounted a comeback in May with total returns up 5.29%.
Can You Lose Money on a REIT? As with any investment, there is always a risk of loss. Publicly traded REITs have the particular risk of losing value as interest rates rise, which typically sends investment capital into bonds.
However, REITs are not risk-free: they may have highly inconsistent, variable returns; are sensitive to interest rate changes are liable to income taxes may not be liquid, and can be dramatically affected by fees.
“REITs often structure buildings as separate financial entities. If they default on debt, creditors generally can foreclose on the building but have no recourse against the rest of the company … in this way, the loss incurred by the REIT is contained,” says Sharma.
Since most non-traded REITs are illiquid, there are often restrictions to redeeming and selling shares. While a REIT is still open to public investors, investors may be able to sell their shares back to the REIT. However, this sale usually comes at a discount; leaving only about 70% to 95% of the original value.
By law, a REIT must pay at least 90% of its income to its shareholders, providing investors with a passive income option that can be helpful during recessions. Typically, the upfront costs of investing in a REIT are low, while their risk-adjusted returns tend to be high.
Will REITs ever recover?
Though 2022 and 2023 were challenging years for REITs, the recovery is likely on the horizon. Edward F. Pierzak is senior vice president of research at Nareit where his primary responsibility is contributing to Nareit's commercial real estate and macroeconomic analysis.
A favorable job market seems encouraging. Robust demand for certain real estate categories, such as that for data centers and need-based asset categories, is likely to keep the momentum going for REITs in 2024.
If the REIT fails this ownership test for more than 30 days (31 days if the year has 366 days) in a taxable year of 12 months, it can lose REIT status and cannot elect to be treated as a REIT for five years (IRCазза856(a)-(b)). The test is pro-rated for taxable years shorter than 12 months.
There are three key reasons to invest in listed REITs right now, starting with the fact that REITs have outperformed stocks and bonds when yields and growth move lower. Demand is healthy while supply is constrained, and REIT valuations relative to the broader equity market are meaningfully below the historical median.
The global REIT market is experiencing steady growth. According to the recent market reports, the market size is reaching an impressive $3.5 trillion in 2022 and is estimated to reach USD 4.2 trillion by 2027, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.8% from 2022.
REIT Stock Performance and the Interest Rate Environment
Over longer periods, there has generally been a positive association between periods of rising rates and REIT returns. This is because rising rates generally reflect improvement in the underlying fundamentals.
real estate as an investment class, he trashed REITs as having terrible returns, mainly because of excessive management fees. He said there wasn't a REIT around that garnered anywhere near a 12% return over the past 10 years, like “good growth mutual funds,” which according to Dave easily return 12 to 15% a year.
Lesson #1: The Dividend Should Be An Afterthought
But here you need to know that the highest-yielding REITs are often the least rewarding over the long run. It may sound counter-intuitive, but lower-yielding REITs have actually been far more rewarding than higher-yielding REITs in most cases.
There is no set lifetime for the trust in most cases. Investors who buy publicly traded shares in a REIT can usually buy as much or little as they like and dispose of the shares when they want or need to. However, if an investor buys a non-traded or private REIT, the investment should be considered illiquid.
Shares peaked at the end of 2021 and have fallen by about half since that point. Higher interest rates have frightened investors. An increase in funding costs hits all REITs and is especially harsh on smaller faster-growing entities like National Storage Affiliates.
What is bad income for REITs?
All the rental income from a particular project could be “bad income” and ultimately cause a REIT to lose its REIT status if its ITSI exceeds 1% of all amounts received or accrued by the REIT with respect to an applicable property for a particular tax year.
If you are interested in a real estate investment that is reliable, hands-off and offers dividends, REITs could be the answer. If you're looking for a higher-risk – but high-potential – investment or want to be able to invest in specific companies you admire, buying individual stocks could be the answer.
So, are REITs the magic shortcut to becoming a millionaire? Not quite. But they can be a powerful tool to build your wealth over time, like a slow and steady rocket taking you towards financial freedom. Remember, the key is to invest wisely, do your research, and choose REITs that match your goals and risk tolerance.
In fact, REIT total returns bounced back with impressive performance in the last quarter of 2023. Based on historical experience, the convergence of the wide valuation gap between public and private real estate will likely ensure continued REIT outperformance into 2024.
Equity REITs, excluding the mortgage REIT sector, posted negative returns of 37.7%. Equity REITs had been on a tear for much of 2008, outperforming the broader market through September, when they were up almost 2%, compared with the S&P 500, which was down more than 19%.
