Real Estate Investment Trust

Under U.S. Federal income tax law, a real estate investment trust (REIT) ( /ˈriːt/) is "any corporation, trust or association that acts as an investment agent specializing in real estate and real estate mortgages" under Internal Revenue Code section 856. The rules for federal income taxation of REITs are found primarily in Part II (sections 856 through 859) of Subchapter M of Chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code. Because a REIT is entitled to deduct dividends paid to its owners, a REIT may avoid incurring some liabilities for U.S. federal income tax. To qualify as a REIT, an organization makes an "election" to do so by filing a Form 1120-REIT with the Internal Revenue Service, and by meeting certain other requirements. The purpose of this designation is to reduce or eliminate corporate tax. In return, REITs are required to distribute at least 90% of their taxable income into the hands of investors. A REIT is a company that owns, and in most cases, operates income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, ranging from office and apartment buildings to warehouses, hospitals, shopping centers, hotels and even timberlands. Some REITs also engage in financing real estate. The REIT structure was designed to provide a real estate investment structure similar to the structure mutual funds provide for investment in stocks.

REITs can be publicly or privately held. Public REITs may be listed on public stock exchanges.

REITs can be classified as equity, mortgage, or a hybrid.

The key statistics to examine in a REIT are net asset value (NAV), funds from operations (FFO), and adjusted funds from operations (AFFO). In the period from 2008 to 2011, REITs faced challenges from both a slowing United States economy and the late-2000s financial crisis, which depressed share values by 40 to 70 percent in some cases.