Real estate investors that don’t want to deal with the hassle of managing properties themselves have the option to get exposure through publicly traded real estate investment trusts or REITs. The advantages (or misfortune) of leverage and depreciation through private ownership are swapped for liquidity and greater transparency. These REITs come in many flavors with different characteristics and are in and out of favor at various times in a market cycle.
Office REITs are in purgatory right now while data center REITs have been granted admission through the pearly gates. We wrote about a REIT that focuses entirely on leasing property to the U.S. Postal Service a few weeks ago and in August we wrote about another one that has a portfolio of upscale hotels. This time around we are going to discuss a REIT that focuses on medical office buildings.