February 2, 2021
4 Major Differences Between REITs and Private Real Estate Investments Every High Net Worth Investor Should Know
A REIT, or Real Estate Investment Trust, is a company owning or financing income-producing real estate. Private real estate investing is the use of private individuals’ money (not a corporation’s funds) to purchase privately held real estate assets, usually for meant commercial use. Both REITs and private real estate investments are organized pools of capital invested in real estate. REITs are often publicly traded, and therefore can be more liquid. Private real estate can have much higher minimums to invest and typically are offered to accredited persons. REITs typically have a low investment threshold, while the minimums are typically higher for private real estate investments since there are fewer people investing per project. REITs are valued every day just like a stock, so they typically have a high correlation to the stock market. In comparison, private real estate typically has a low correlation to the public stock market. Public stock markets do not typically cause as great a shift in the value of private real estate. Let’s dive a little deeper into each of these differences. Correlation One of the biggest differences between a REIT and private real estate investments is correlation to the public stock market exchanges and public...