Real examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) investors actually use

Quick tour of real-world REIT examples across sectors

Before getting into definitions, let’s start with real examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) that trade every day on U.S. exchanges. These are the names that show up in retirement accounts, ETFs, and institutional portfolios.

Some widely followed examples include:

• Public Storage (PSA) – self-storage properties across the U.S. and Europe
• Prologis (PLD) – logistics and warehouse facilities serving e‑commerce and global trade
• Equinix (EQIX) – data centers that power cloud computing and internet traffic
• American Tower (AMT) – cell towers and communications infrastructure
• Welltower (WELL) – healthcare and senior housing properties
• AvalonBay Communities (AVB) – multifamily apartment communities in major coastal markets
• Realty Income (O) – retail and commercial properties with long-term net leases
• Simon Property Group (SPG) – shopping malls and outlet centers

These are not recommendations, just real examples of REITs that illustrate how varied the asset class has become.

Equity REITs: the most common examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs)

When investors talk about examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs), they’re usually referring to equity REITs. These companies own and operate income-producing properties and pass most of the rental income through to shareholders as dividends.

Industrial and logistics REIT examples

The industrial category has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of e‑commerce and supply chain reconfiguration.

• Prologis (PLD) is often cited as a textbook example of an industrial REIT. It owns massive distribution centers near ports, airports, and major highways. Tenants include global retailers, manufacturers, and logistics companies. Rising online shopping and demand for same‑day or next‑day delivery have supported warehouse demand, even as interest rates moved higher in 2023–2024.
• Duke Realty was another well-known industrial REIT until it was acquired by Prologis in 2022, showing how scale matters in this space.

These examples of REITs highlight how real estate can be tied directly to global trade and consumer behavior rather than just local office or retail markets.

Residential REIT examples: apartments and single-family rentals

Residential REITs focus on places where people live: apartments, manufactured housing communities, and increasingly, single-family rentals.

• AvalonBay Communities (AVB) and Equity Residential (EQR) own large portfolios of apartment communities in high-cost U.S. metros such as Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. They tend to benefit from strong job markets and limited housing supply.
• Invitation Homes (INVH) is a prominent example of a REIT that owns single-family rental homes, primarily in the Sun Belt. As home prices and mortgage rates climbed in 2023–2024, renting single-family homes became more attractive for many households, supporting occupancy and rent growth.

These examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) show how investors can get exposure to housing trends without directly buying and managing properties.

Retail REIT examples: malls, outlets, and net lease

Retail REITs have been reshaped by e‑commerce, COVID‑19, and changing consumer habits. Some have struggled; others have adapted.

• Simon Property Group (SPG) owns high-end malls and outlet centers. It’s often cited as one of the best examples of a retail REIT that has navigated the shift toward experiential retail and mixed-use redevelopment.
• Realty Income (O) calls itself “The Monthly Dividend Company” and focuses on net lease properties—think convenience stores, pharmacies, and dollar stores—where tenants pay taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Leases are long-term, which can help stabilize cash flow.

When investors look for examples of REITs with steady dividends, Realty Income frequently comes up thanks to its long history of monthly payouts and diversified tenant base.

Healthcare REIT examples: hospitals and senior housing

Healthcare is another area where examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) are easy to find, because the sector relies heavily on specialized facilities.

• Welltower (WELL) and Ventas (VTR) own senior housing, medical office buildings, and other healthcare properties. Aging populations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia support long-term demand, but these REITs can be sensitive to government reimbursement rates and operator quality.
• Medical Properties Trust (MPW) focuses on hospitals and acute care facilities. It has attracted attention—both positive and negative—because of its concentrated tenant exposure and debt levels, a reminder that not every example of a REIT is low risk.

These healthcare examples show why investors need to understand both the real estate and the underlying operating businesses.

Digital and infrastructure REITs: modern examples include data centers and towers

Some of the most interesting examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in 2024–2025 aren’t traditional buildings at all—they’re the infrastructure behind the digital economy.

Data center REIT examples

Data center REITs own facilities packed with servers, power, and cooling systems. They lease space to cloud providers, enterprises, and content companies.

• Equinix (EQIX) and Digital Realty (DLR) are two of the best-known examples. They benefit from growth in cloud computing, streaming, and artificial intelligence workloads. As AI models grow more compute-hungry, demand for high-quality data center capacity has increased.

These REITs illustrate how the asset class has expanded beyond what most people picture when they hear “real estate.”

Tower and communications REIT examples

Cell tower REITs own vertical real estate—towers and rooftop sites that host antennas and related equipment.

• American Tower (AMT) and Crown Castle (CCI) lease space to wireless carriers and other communications providers. As 5G networks roll out and data usage rises, carriers need dense networks of sites, supporting tower demand.

For investors looking for examples of REITs with global footprints, American Tower stands out, with assets across multiple continents.

Mortgage REITs: a different example of REIT risk and return

So far, the examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) have focused on equity REITs that own properties. Mortgage REITs (mREITs) are different. They invest in mortgages and mortgage-backed securities rather than physical buildings.

Real-world examples include:

• Annaly Capital Management (NLY) – invests in agency mortgage-backed securities and other mortgage assets.
• AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC) – another large agency-focused mortgage REIT.

Mortgage REITs are highly sensitive to interest rate movements and financing conditions. The 2022–2024 rate-hike cycle from the Federal Reserve put pressure on many mREITs, highlighting that this example of a REIT structure can be far more volatile than owning properties directly.

Investors often treat mortgage REITs as a separate category within alternative investments due to their different risk drivers.

Public vs. private REIT examples: listed, non-traded, and private

Not every example of a real estate investment trust (REIT) trades on a stock exchange.

• Publicly traded REITs – listed on exchanges like the NYSE or Nasdaq. Examples include Prologis, AvalonBay, and Realty Income. They offer daily liquidity and transparent pricing.
• Public non-traded REITs – registered with regulators and file public reports, but their shares don’t trade on an exchange. They are typically sold through brokers or advisors and can have limited liquidity.
• Private REITs – not registered for public sale, often available only to institutional or accredited investors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued investor bulletins on REITs and non-traded REITs that are worth reading if you’re considering these structures. You can find them on SEC.gov, which is one of the better authoritative sources for understanding regulatory and disclosure requirements.

How investors actually use these examples of REITs in a portfolio

Seeing real examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) is helpful, but the more important question is how investors use them.

Income generation

Many investors buy REITs for dividends. By law in the U.S., REITs must distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to shareholders. That’s why examples like Realty Income, Simon Property Group, and Welltower are popular in income-focused portfolios.

Yields can shift quickly with interest rates and market sentiment. After the sharp rate increases in 2022–2023, many REIT yields moved higher, making them more competitive with bonds—but also reflecting higher perceived risk.

Diversification within alternatives

Within an alternative investments sleeve, examples of REITs can provide:

• Diversification away from pure equities and bonds
• Exposure to inflation-sensitive assets (rents can adjust over time)
• Access to property types that individual investors rarely own directly, such as data centers or cell towers

However, REITs still trade on stock markets, so they can be volatile in the short term. In stress periods, correlations with broader equities often rise.

Sector and factor bets

Because there are so many sector-specific examples of REITs, investors can make targeted bets:

• Favor industrial and data centers if they believe in the growth of e‑commerce and cloud computing
• Emphasize residential REITs if they expect housing shortages and rent growth
• Underweight office REITs if they think remote work will persist

ETFs and mutual funds that track REIT indexes, such as those based on the FTSE Nareit family of indexes, are common tools for building this exposure. FTSE Russell and Nareit publish sector breakdowns and performance data that can help investors compare different REIT categories.

2024–2025 trends shaping the next wave of REIT examples

A few themes are driving which examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) look attractive—or risky—heading into 2025.

Higher-for-longer interest rates

REITs are capital-intensive. They borrow to acquire and develop properties, and higher rates raise financing costs. The Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle has forced many REITs to:

• Extend debt maturities earlier
• Lock in fixed-rate financing where possible
• Slow down acquisitions or development pipelines

Investors comparing examples of REITs should pay attention to balance sheets: leverage ratios, interest coverage, and the percentage of debt that’s fixed vs. floating.

The ongoing office reset

Office REITs are the clearest negative example in recent years. Work-from-home and hybrid models have cut demand for traditional office space in many markets.

Some office REITs are focusing on high-quality buildings in prime locations, betting that older, less efficient buildings will be repurposed or demolished. Others are exploring conversions to residential or mixed use, but that can be expensive and complex.

When looking at examples of REITs, many investors now treat office exposure as a specific risk factor to manage rather than a default core holding.

Growth of “alternative” property types

Property types that were once niche—like self-storage, life science labs, cold storage, and manufactured housing—have moved closer to the mainstream.

• Public Storage (PSA) is a prominent example of a self-storage REIT, benefiting from household moves, downsizing, and small-business storage needs.
• Life science REITs (for example, Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE)) focus on lab and research space tied to biotech and pharmaceutical R&D, sectors that rely heavily on scientific and medical innovation.

These newer segments show that the list of examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) is not static; it evolves with the economy and technology.

Risk checklist when evaluating examples of REITs

Looking at real examples is only half the job. The other half is asking the right questions:

• Balance sheet: How much debt does the REIT carry? When does it mature? Is it fixed or floating rate?
• Tenant quality: Who are the top tenants? Are they diversified by industry and geography, or concentrated in a few names?
• Lease structure: Are leases short (like many apartments) or long (like net lease retail)? Longer leases can stabilize cash flow but may slow rent growth in inflationary periods.
• Payout ratio: How much of cash flow is paid out vs. retained for reinvestment or debt reduction?
• Management track record: Has management navigated past cycles effectively?

The SEC’s investor education pages on REITs and publicly traded securities are helpful for learning how to read filings, understand risk factors, and compare different examples of REITs using standardized disclosures.

FAQs about examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs)

What are some well-known examples of REITs in the U.S.?

Some of the best-known U.S. examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) include Prologis (industrial), AvalonBay Communities (apartments), Equinix (data centers), American Tower (cell towers), Realty Income (net lease retail), Simon Property Group (malls), and Welltower (healthcare). Mortgage REIT examples include Annaly Capital Management and AGNC Investment Corp.

Are REITs considered alternative investments?

Yes. In many portfolio frameworks, REITs are grouped under alternative investments because they provide exposure to real assets and income streams that differ from traditional stocks and bonds. That said, publicly traded REITs behave more like equities than private real estate, so they’re often treated as a hybrid between public markets and real assets.

How can I research a specific example of a REIT before investing?

You can start with the company’s Form 10‑K and 10‑Q filings on the SEC’s EDGAR database, which provide detailed information on properties, tenants, debt, and risks. Many REITs also publish supplemental information packages on their investor relations websites. For sector-level data and historical performance, organizations like Nareit and FTSE Russell publish regular reports and index statistics.

Are high-dividend REIT examples always better?

Not necessarily. A very high yield can signal higher risk, such as excessive leverage, declining property values, or unsustainable payout ratios. When comparing examples of REITs, it’s important to look beyond yield to the stability of cash flows, balance sheet strength, and management quality.

Can non-U.S. investors buy U.S. REITs?

In many cases, yes—U.S. REITs are accessible to international investors through global brokerage platforms. However, tax treatment can differ by country, especially with respect to dividend withholding and reporting. Non-U.S. investors should review local tax rules and, if needed, consult a qualified tax professional before investing.

The bottom line: real examples of real estate investment trusts (REITs) span everything from apartments and warehouses to data centers and hospitals. Understanding which example of a REIT you’re looking at—equity vs. mortgage, public vs. private, traditional vs. digital—matters far more than memorizing tickers. Use these examples as a starting point, then dig into the financials, tenants, and strategy before committing capital.