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CANNES-As stateside REITs succumb to the allure of the privatesector, the fledgling trust market in Europe continues to fire onall cylinders, and the progress of new countries adopting REITstructures and new trusts forming in countries that have alreadyembraced the trust concept are expected to continue unabated.Fraser Hughes, research director of the European Public Real EstateAssociation, the sister organization to the Washington, DC-basedNational Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, says thatcomparisons between the two dynamics is unfair.

"Around the world, you have REIT structures at different stagesof maturity," he states. "The US has had a REIT structure in placesince 1960, but in Asia and Europe it's still in its infancy." Therelative periods of time these structures have been in place makescomparisons difficult at best, he believes. But, "That doesn't meanthat 15 years from now, when these markets are mature, you won'tsee in Europe the level of consolidation we're seeing in theUS."