Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and ERISA Plans

According to "REITs By The Numbers," published by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Inc. ("NAREIT"), real estate is gaining favor with 401(k) investment committees that decide on asset allocation. They write that the last ten years has seen a rise from 5 percent to 30 percent of 401(k) plans that offer Real Estate Investment Trusts ("REITs") as an investment option. Moreover, the market is large at $1 trillion of real estate held in the form of an investment pool.

If you are a member of a 401(k) investment committee, advisor, consultant or individual participant, you will want to keep up with current guidelines and rules. Some of these are described in "Real Estate Investment Trust Valuation Guidelines Published." This blog post by Susan Mangiero includes FINRA and SEC comments about non-listed REITs as relates to items such as illiquidity, valuation and disclosures.

Source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/PensionRiskMatters/~3/UNvT8PJETtQ/

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