By: Steve Webner Staff Writer for World Liberty TV

NAREIT®, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts®, is the worldwide representative voice for REITs, or Real Estate Investment Trusts, and publicly traded real estate companies with an interest in U.S. real estate and capital markets.

We represent a large and diverse industry including Equity REITs, which own commercial properties, Mortgage REITs, which invest in mortgage securities, REITs traded on major stock exchanges, public non-listed REITs and private REITs. U.S. REITs collectively own nearly $3 trillion of real estate assets and, by making investment in commercial real estate available in the form of stock, our approximately 300 REIT members enable all investors – importantly, small investors – to achieve what, once, only large institutions and the wealthy could.

REIT-based real estate investment historically has delivered long-term performance and strong dividends for investors. Over the 20 years ended August 31, 2016, stock exchange-listed U.S. REITs delivered their shareholders a compound annual total return of 10.4 percent, higher than the S&P 500’s 8.2 percent. In 2015, U.S. REITs paid out $51 billion in dividends.

For more than 50 years, NAREIT has advocated for REITs and REIT-based real estate investment among federal policymakers, the investment community, the media and other audiences.

We are the voice for the REIT industry in Washington, where we educate policymakers in Congress and the federal agencies about the important roles that REITs and REIT investment play in job creation, economic growth and the lives of millions of investors. We also are an information resource to policymakers in countries around the world that have introduced or are considering introducing REITs.

We actively communicate the benefits of REIT investment – competitive performance, continuing income, diversification, capital appreciation and inflation protection – to investors worldwide, ranging from individual investors to large pension and sovereign wealth funds.

Our investor outreach is research-based, and we are the leading provider of research on REIT investment, which we produce and also sponsor from major investment consultants and academics.

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