Real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) allow individuals to invest in large-scale, income-producing real estate. A REIT is a company that owns and typically operates income-producing real estate or related assets. These may include office buildings, shopping malls, apartments, hotels, resorts, self-storage facilities, warehouses, and mortgages or loans.

Unlike other real estate companies, a REIT does not develop real estate properties to resell them. Instead, a REIT buys and develops properties primarily to operate them as part of its own investment portfolio.

In Iowa, as in other states, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are governed by federal tax law, specifically by the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). REITs must comply with certain IRS requirements to qualify as a REIT, such as investing at least 75% of total assets in real estate and deriving at least 75% of gross income from rents or mortgage interest. REITs are designed to provide a way for individual investors to earn a share of the income produced through commercial real estate ownership without actually having to buy, manage, or finance any properties themselves. Iowa does not have specific statutes that uniquely regulate REITs; instead, they are primarily regulated at the federal level and must comply with the same corporate governance and securities laws that apply to other types of companies, such as those set forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Investors in Iowa can invest in REITs through the purchase of shares, which are often traded on major stock exchanges.