Non-traditional Reits - more than meets the eye

REITS are investment vehicles that invest in a portfolio of income-generating real estate assets and are attractive to investors seeking a passive and stable income stream. Traditional Reits typically hold retail, office and industrial assets that have a long track record of an active secondary sales and rental market.

Non-traditional Reits, on the other hand, hold asset types that are less familiar to investors including healthcare, self-storage, infrastructure, data centres, casinos, prisons, cell-phone towers and other facilities.

The definition of traditional versus non-traditional may change overtime. For example, hospitality Reits were once considered non-traditional at a point in history though they have now become more mainstream. We think hospitality Reits still straddle the fine line between traditional and non-traditional Reits.