The New York Times may be down on residential real estate but this article is glowing about international Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).
Last week, Britain became the latest country to offer REITs. The corporate structure gives real estate companies favorable tax treatment in exchange for disbursing most of their income to shareholders. The addition of Britain brings to 17 the number of countries with public REIT markets, according to UBS Investment Bank; there are also about a dozen other countries with legislation in place or under consideration to create REITs, though with no public market yet. Germany is expected to offer REITs this spring.
Well… as more money is invested into an industry…