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Introduction To International REITs
Investing in real estate investment trusts (REITS) has long been an excellent way for investors to diversify stock portfolios. In 2007, the global real estate market represented more than $900 billion of equity capitalization and was growing, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). For the longest time, publicly-traded real estate investment trusts were only available in the areas like the U.S. or Australia; now, more foreign countries are adopting similar structures.

Tutorial: Exploring Real Estate Investments

If youre an investor who owns U.S. REITs, you are only seeing part of the total picture. In fact, a shift toward an international REIT portfolio may be more suitable. Expanding an investment portfolio to include international real estate could open the door to potential return opportunities while further dampening portfolio risk. As is said in real estate, its all about location, location, location.

Breakdown of Global REIT Market
Before we begin to dissect the characteristics and benefits of investing in foreign REITs, let us first recap the REIT universe as a whole. A REIT is a corporation that purchases, owns and manages real estate properties and/or mortgage loans. The REIT structure is unique in that REITs are given special tax status that allows them to avoid corporate tax, as long as 90% of the income is distributed to investors. Although the REIT structure avoids double taxation to shareholders, tax losses cannot be passed through. (To read more REIT basics, see What Are REITs? and ourExploring Real Estate Investments tutorial.)
The global real estate securities market has grown significantly as both developed and developing countries move to create REIT or REIT-like corporate structures. Prior to 1990, however, only the U.S., the Netherlands, Australia and Luxembourg had adopted REIT-like structures. In 2007, according to Dimensional Fund Advisors, the global REIT market was dominated by the U.S. (55%), Australia, Great Britain and Japan. Therefore, non-U.S. REITS make up almost half of the global REIT market. The global REIT universe continues to expand; therefore, investors who limit their REIT positions to U.S.-only funds will also likely limit their opportunities. (Keep reading on this subject in The Emergence Of Global Real Estate.)

Benefits of REITs
One of the benefits of REITs when compared to direct equity real estate investments is that investors have the ability to more effectively and efficiently diversify their real estate portfolios because REITs tend to be more liquid. Of course, the biggest advantage offered by REITs is the diversification benefit. Investors strive to locate asset classes that offer low correlations to other positions in their portfolios. The lower the correlation, the lower the idiosyncratic risk. (To learn more about the benefits of diversification, see Introduction To Diversification and Risk And Diversification.)

The chart below illustrates the low correlation that REITs have to other U.S. core indexes over an extended period of time.
Monthly Return Correlation Coefficient: January 1979 to December 2006
-- Equity REIT Index S