With land prices in key commercial areas finally turning upward after more than a decade in the doldrums, the market for real estate investment trusts has been expanding.
REITs are securities that pool funds from investors to buy commercial and residential properties. They are more liquid and allow investors to buy and sell real estate in small lots more easily than unsecuritized real estate. They first appeared on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in September 2001.
There are now 30 REITs trading on the TSE with the addition of three new trusts in March. In all, the market capitalization of Japan REITs totals some 3 trillion yen, up by roughly a third from just one year ago.