REITs Around the World

By Richard Stooker

Claim Your Share of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Profits From Around the World

Ever since so many private real estate companies converted themselves into Real Estate Investment Trusts and held IPOs in the mid-1990s, and with the publication of the first edition of Investing in REITs: Real Estate Investment Trusts by Ralph L. Block, U.S. investors have been discovering the high dividend yields possible through investing in commercial real estate through publicly owned companies.

REITs do not have to pay taxes on the income they distribute to unit holders -- and the government requires them to distribute at least 90%!

This means they pay out a lot more money than ordinary corporations (who have to pay corporate taxes).

REITs are cash cows.

What's not so well known is that countries all over the world have been following the lead of the United States and creating their own versions of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Nearly 40 countries from Australia to Turkey have laws enabling some form of REITs, using the US as a model but ringing their own changes.

By investing in foreign REITs you can:

1. Have a stream of income that's not dependent on the US dollar (or euro, or yen, or whatever your currency of residence is).

By investing in foreign REITs, you get income in a large variety of other currencies, which may be going up in value as the US dollar falls.

The two largest, oldest and most mature REIT countries in the world behind the US are Canada and Australia.

Which two countries in the world have recently seen the value of their currencies go up dramatically?

Canada and Australia.

But Canadians and Australians needs apartments, office buildings and shopping malls just like everyone else.

By buying shares of their REITs, you can get yourself some Canadian and Australian dollars.

Two other kinds of dollars are going up in value -- both from busy and booming Asian port cities -- Hong Kong and Singapore.

And both Hong Kong and Singapore have some great Real Estate Investment Trusts.

2. Have a stream of income from economic activity that may be up while your local area is down.

Most people's jobs are dependent upon their local economy. However, when business is slow in your area, it may be great in Paris, Dubai or Kuala Lumpur.

We also know that while the entire U.S. real estate market can be slow, real estate in other countries may still be booming.

3. Worldwide inflation protection

Well run REITs will do all they can to increase their net incomes, including raise rents to keep up with inflation -- wherever they are located.

Ever wanted to benefit from Japanese people paying rent for their apartments?

Or from businesses paying for offices in prestigious districts of Paris?

Or from tourists buying clothes in the trendy shops of Soho London?

Or from jet setters tanning themselves at Mediterranean luxury resorts?

Or from Australian wine vinyards?

Or even from Bulgarian farmers renting land to grow wheat on?

Or from drinkers having a pint in AB InBev's chain of European pubs?

From the warehouses and shipping docks of China?

Now you can!

In the last chapter you learn the investments that you can tell your broker to buy for you to profit from REITs around the world.

It's simple, easy and -- in this globalized world of international financial crises, a smart move to protect you and your family's wealth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Health & Wealth Press
• Release date: Dec 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386934516

Book preview

Chapter One

What are Real Estate Investment Trusts

REITs started in the United States as a 1960 law, The Real Estate Investment Trust Act of 1960, part of the Cigar Excise Tax Extension Act of 1960 signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Congress wanted to give small investors a chance to profit from commercial real estate as wealthy individuals and institutions have traditionally done.

The law allows investors to pool their money to acquire ownership interest in real estate properties, without having to own real estate directly—especially commercial real estate.

Until then, individuals had to own real estate directly. However, it could be difficult for them to raise enough money to buy a second house or an apartment building, and even harder for one person to buy an office building or a shopping mall.

Those who did so needed a variety of skills to make the investment profitable, and they were still at risk from business conditions in their local area. Not to mention having to fix toilets at 2 o’clock in the morning.

The REIT structure in the United States is the blueprint. However, as they’ve spread around the world—especially becoming popular since 2000—individual countries have come up with their own variations.

What makes them especially attractive for income investors is the provision they do not have to pay federal income taxes on the net income they distribute to unit holder—and they’re required to pay out at least 90%.

Therefore, they generally pay a lot more money than regular corporations—which are subject to federal income taxes.

In the United States, REIT are trusts, not corporations. Therefore, when you want to invest in them, you buy up units, not shares. You are a