This year I’ve been looking at UK real-estate investment trusts (REITs) in an attempt to uncover some hidden gems in a troubled sector. Over the past two years investors have dumped REITs on a scale not seen since 2008. Interest-rate hikes are to blame. Fifteen years of ultra-easy monetary policy by central banks in Europe and the US distorted property markets and rewarded the misallocation of capital.
Investors could borrow cheaply, and as long as they covered interest payments with rental income, they were happy. It seemed as