Daily Real Estate News  |  June 23, 2009  |   Are REITs a Key to Real Estate Recovery?
If you want to bet on the real estate recovery without finding financing and taking possession of property, then consider buying real estate investment trusts.

Fortune magazine says that blue-chip REITs offer a reasonably conservative opportunity for individual investors to profit from the coming real estate rebound. Boston Properties (BXP), Regency Centers (REG), Simon Property Group (SPG), and Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) appear to be among the strongest, the magazine says.

Philip Martin, a senior vice president of Golub & Co., a real estate investment and development firm, thinks there isn’t an oversupply of commercial properties.

"So when we do recover, you are likely to see a pretty healthy snap-back in real estate prices," he says. "This is an excellent environment for those REITs with the right combination of knowledge and capital. They are going to have an opportunity to make some great deals, and the risk-adjusted returns at this point in the real estate cycle are going to be pretty darn good."

Source: Fortune, Michael V. Copeland (06/22/2009)