REITs Own 575,000 Properties in the U.S.

REITs Own 575,000 Properties in the U.S.

Nareit’s annual update of REIT property counts and estimated gross asset values by state and property sector is now available on the REITs Across America website. At the end of 2022, U.S. public REITs owned an estimated 575,000 properties—up 8% from the previous year—and 15 million acres of timberland across the U.S.

U.S. REIT Properties

Nareit has tracked the changes in the REIT industry’s property holdings since 2018, including changes in REITs’ portfolios and the composition of the REIT industry as companies enter and exit. Nareit’s T-Tracker showed strong net acquisitions in 2022, translating to an 8% total increase in REIT properties at year-end 2022 compared to the previous year.

• Residential has made strong gains the past two years and had the largest percentage increase in properties since 2018 at 35%.
• Retail has maintained its strong growth with increases every year, up 18% year-over-year and 29% since 2018.
• Storage and industrial both continue to grow with 27% and 22% increases respectively since 2018. Both sectors saw growth year-over-year in 2022 of 4% and 7% respectively.
• Cell towers saw a modest annual increase of less than 1% in 2022 and are up 4% since 2018.
• Timberland and specialty were both down since 2018 but up 1% and 6% from the previous year, respectively.
• Data centers and health care have experienced mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructuring at the company level, leading to some fluctuations in property counts. Overall, both property sectors were down—27% for data centers over the four years and 8% for health care.
• Office, outdoor advertising, and lodging/resorts have all been trending downward over the four years. Lodging/resorts has had the most significant decline, down 34% from 2018.