Real-Estate-Investment-Trust.co.uk

The guide to investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts in the United Kingdom

Real Estate Investment Trusts Investment Opportunities in other countries

North America has a well established REIT market which accounts for 53% of the projected Global REIT capitalisation which is expected to reach $663 billion in 5 years time. Asia Pacific has 23% of the projected global capitalisation and REIT structures already exist in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. Europe is expected to make up most of the remaining 22% with an emerging REIT investment community. The Netherlands introduced legislation as long ago as 1969 and has a small but thriving REIT sector. Italy and Belgium established REITs in 1994 and 1995 repectively and were joined by France in 2003. The big changes to REITs will occur in the next few years with the UK(expected to be 43% of the market by 2011) and Germany(expected to be 31%) introducing legislation.

If both Germany and the UK introduce REIT legislation in the next few months we can expect to see a significant increase in the size of the listed property sector. UBS, for instance, estimates that the market capitalisation of the UK property sector could double from $50 billion currently to almost $90billion by 2011. This increase will be mirrored in Germany with, across Europe, perhaps an additional $100 billion of additional equity available for investment.

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