Global REITs Gain Attention

Ted Bigman, head of global real estate securities at Morgan Stanley, touted international real estate investing in a recent article in Investment Management Journal.

"The approximately US $600 billion global real estate securities market provides investors with a significant investment universe to achieve diversified exposure to real estate properties on a global basis," Bigman wrote. "Global real estate securities may provide investors with attractive risk-adjusted returns and the potential to enhance portfolio diversification due to its low correlation to other asset classes."

In the past five years, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and France have established REITs. Next up are the U.K. and Germany. (Each country's structure is a little different and doesn't exactly replicate the U.S. REIT model). With REITs still making up a small piece of the overseas property market, the future looks wide open.

"To date less than 10% of institutional real estate is held in the public markets, providing ample room for growth," Citigroup wrote.