The government will consider relaxing tax requirements as part of changes to rules for real estate investment trusts after the market shrank by more than half in the past three years, according to vice land minister Sumio Mabuchi.

The regulation to allow the trusts, known as J-REITs, may be eased to retain more than 10 percent of their earnings to finance operations, Mabuchi said.

Currently, J-REITs must pay out more than 90 percent of their profit to investors as dividends to receive tax breaks.