Investment expert George Livingston eyes bigger role for REITS as real estate market recovers, biggest targets will be retail, senior housing

MAITLAND, Fla. --- REITs — Real Estate Investment Trusts — will play a demonstrably larger role as the real estate market recovers, says longtime investment specialist George Livingston, chairman of NAI Realvest in Maitland. And while rental apartment communities will likely remain bread-and-butter projects for most REITs, Livingston said he expects REITs to play in increasingly aggressive role in the acquisition and development of senior housing facilities and retail properties. “As a rule, REITs tend to seek passive investments and refer assets with safe, predictable dividends,” Livingston explained. “REITs have played such a dominant role in multi-family housing that there is less room for expansion now. We anticipate more adventurous REITs will accept higher risk and the opportunity for higher dividends by investing in secondary property types as the economy improves, along with senior housing facilities,” he said. Livingston said REITs have recovered in a generally uniform manner with positive returns since 2009. “The best performing REITs were better capitalized, has access to more financing options, owned better quality assets, and sought less risky strategies,” he said. But that may change as the market recovers in 2013. “Recent returns in U.S. REITs were roughly the same as the American broad market. In past years, the REITs typically outperformed U.S. stocks,” Livingston said. “Capital for growth is available from institutional partners, public offerings, secondary offerings and free sale of assets, and the overall outlook for REITs is very positive,” Livingston said.