No Worries: NAREIT Strikes Confident Tone for 2001

WASHINGTON, DC-With REITs proving themselves safe and secure investment havens in the 2000 marketplace, the year 2001 could well be a time of taxable rate subsidiaries, according to Steven A. Wechsler, president and CEO of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

“The outlook is promising,” Weschler told reporters in a Jan. 11 conference call. “Last year’s most important lesson was diversification. Many forgot merits of diversified portfolios and put too many eggs in the tech stock basket. REITs and public real estate securities belong in every portfolio. The REIT Modernization Act, which includes the taxable REIT subsidiary provision, is another significant step in REITs’ evolution and will provide REITs with greater flexibility, should enhance their long-term competitiveness, and according to analysts is likely to produce earnings growth.”

On the public policy side, Tony M. Edwards, NAREIT’s senior vice president and general counsel, noted three legislative issues the organization will monitor closely: e-fairness, forced access issues and tenant improvements.