REITs

How Safe Are REITs?

The biggest threat to REITs is a rise in interest rates, which reduces REIT demand. In a rising-rate environment, investors tend to gravitate toward safer income investments like US Treasuries. Treasury bonds are government-backed and pay a set rate of interest. As a result, when interest rates rise, REITs sell off, while the bond market

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How Do You Pronounce REIT?

Some people are wary of REITs because they have a funny name and sound sophisticated. REITs were “created by Congress to make real estate incomprehensible,” according to financial author Roger Lowenstein. He was simply slightly exaggerating his point. Then there’s the issue of pronunciation. REIT is a terrible little term that rhymes with street. You’ll

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How Does Mortgage REIT Work?

Mortgage REITs (mREITS) purchase or originate mortgages and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and earn income from the interest on these investments to fund income-producing real estate. Are mortgage REITs good? When the spread between short-term and long-term interest rates (where they borrow) is substantial, mREITs can produce a significant net interest margin (where they lend). Unfortunately,

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