What is a REIT?
This is an informational site about publicly traded REITs — ones you can buy and sell in the public stock market. A REIT lets you own a slice of income-producing real estate — apartments, warehouses, data centers, cell towers — and collect most of the rent as dividends, without ever buying a building yourself.
Brand new to this? Start here
REITs are regular stocks. They're listed on the stock exchange (NYSE, Nasdaq) and trade under a ticker symbol, just like Apple or Coca-Cola.
- You buy and sell them like any share — through almost any brokerage account (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, Robinhood, E*TRADE…) or through your financial advisor.
- You can start small. One share is enough, and many brokers allow fractional shares.
- They pay you cash dividends, usually every quarter (some monthly), deposited straight into your brokerage account.
- This site is research, not a broker. We don't sell shares — we help you understand and compare REITs before you buy one somewhere else.
Educational only — nothing here is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
The one rule that defines a REIT
To qualify as a REIT and skip corporate tax, a company must hand almost all of its profit to shareholders. That legal requirement is why REITs are famous for big, steady dividends.
kept
Follow the money
A REIT is just a machine that turns buildings into a dividend check. Here's the loop:
You invest
Buy shares on the exchange, like any stock.
REIT buys property
It pools everyone's money to own a big portfolio.
Tenants pay rent
Leases bring in steady, contracted cash flow.
You get paid
That rent flows back to you as dividends.
Try it: what would a REIT pay you?
Drag the sliders to see the income a REIT could throw off. Move them and the numbers update live.
Illustrative only. Real yields, payment schedules and dividend safety vary by REIT — check any company's profile for the real figures.
Want shares, per-payment amounts and a multi-year DRIP projection? Open the full Income Calculator →
Why income investors look at REITs
Because the law forces those payouts, REIT yields tend to sit well above most stocks and cash — closer to bonds, but with a shot at growth.
The REIT figure is the live median across the 203 REITs on this site. The others are recent typical benchmarks, shown for scale.
Meet a real one
Enough theory — here's an actual REIT from our database, with its real numbers:
FFO — funds from operations — is a REIT's real cash earnings. Net income is misleading for REITs because of huge non-cash depreciation, so the whole industry is judged on FFO and dividends instead.
Two flavors of REIT: equity vs. mortgage
This is the single most important distinction. The two types make money in completely different ways — that's why we keep mortgage REITs on their own mREITs page.
Equity REITs
Own the buildings and collect rent. The vast majority of REITs. Income is the rent tenants pay; judged on occupancy, rent growth and cash flow (FFO/AFFO).
Mortgage REITs (mREITs)
Don't own buildings — they lend. They finance real estate or buy mortgage bonds and earn the spread between borrowing and lending. Higher yields, but far more rate-sensitive; judged on book value, not rent.
| Equity REIT | Mortgage REIT (mREIT) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it owns | Physical buildings | Loans & mortgage bonds |
| Income comes from | Rent | Interest-rate spread |
| Typical yield | Moderate | Higher |
| Main risk | Vacancy, property values | Interest-rate & credit swings |
| Judged on | FFO / AFFO, occupancy | Book value, net interest margin |
Want only the mortgage names? See the Mortgage REITs (mREITs) page →
REITs own nearly every kind of property
From the towers your phone connects to, to the warehouses your packages ship from. Here's the live breakdown of the 203 REITs we track — click any sector to explore it.
REIT vs. stock vs. bond
| REIT | Stock | Bond | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you own | A share of real estate | A share of a business | A loan you made |
| Main return | Dividends + property value | Price growth | Fixed interest |
| Payout | Must pay ~90% of income | Optional, often small | Fixed coupon |
| Judged on | FFO / AFFO & dividends | Earnings (EPS) | Credit & rates |
| Typical yield | 5.4% | ~1.3% | ~4.3% |
The four numbers to know
Funds From Operations — a REIT's real cash earnings. The headline profit figure.
Adjusted FFO — after the capex needed to keep buildings rentable. Truer cash for dividends.
Annual dividend ÷ price. The income you get for the price you pay.
Leverage — net debt vs. earnings. Lower is generally safer.
Common questions
What is a REIT?
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns or finances income-producing real estate. To qualify it must pay out at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends, so investors earn income from real estate without buying property directly.
How do REITs pay such high dividends?
By law a REIT must distribute at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders each year to avoid corporate income tax. That requirement — not a promise of generosity — is why REITs are known for large, steady dividends, funded by rent (equity REITs) or mortgage interest (mortgage REITs).
What is the difference between an equity REIT and a mortgage REIT?
An equity REIT owns and operates physical properties and earns rent; it is measured on FFO/AFFO and occupancy. A mortgage REIT (mREIT) lends against real estate or holds mortgage securities and earns the interest spread; it is measured on book value per share and net interest margin, not FFO.
What are FFO and AFFO?
Funds From Operations (FFO) is a REIT's standard earnings measure — roughly net income with real-estate depreciation added back and property-sale gains removed — because accounting depreciation understates a REIT's cash earnings. AFFO (Adjusted FFO) goes further by subtracting the recurring capital spending needed to keep buildings rentable, so it better reflects cash available for dividends.
How are REIT dividends taxed?
Most REIT dividends are taxed as ordinary income rather than at the lower qualified-dividend rate, though part of a distribution can be a return of capital or qualify for the 20% pass-through (Section 199A) deduction. The exact split is set out in each REIT's annual tax-character statement.
How do you evaluate a REIT?
Common measures are dividend yield, payout coverage (dividends versus cash flow), FFO and AFFO per share, leverage such as net debt / EBITDA (lower is generally safer), and occupancy. Each REIT profile on this site shows these figures where the company reports them.
Start exploring
Every listed REIT →
The full sortable directory with the metrics that matter.
Screener →
Filter by yield, size, sector and valuation.
Sectors →
Data centers to self-storage, side by side.
Methodology →
Exactly where every number on this site comes from.
Research and education only — nothing here is investment advice.