REITs are on the rise again. They’ve raised billions of capitalin the past few years, and many are seeing strong returns.

In fact, NAREIT reports that the total return of the US REITmarket outpaced the broader equity market in the past year. Withreturns of 11.29%, REITs beat out the S&P 500’s 8.54%. All thewhile, REITs are still raising significant dollars. They raised$21.1 billion in the first quarter of 2012, including $10.6 billionof equity, NAREIT reports. That compares to $51.3 billion in all of2011.

The question now is, how are REITs spending all this cash? Theanswer is varied. Although some are refinancing debt or doingmergers, most are acquiring or developing properties—or both. Withdistressed assets still up for grabs and new developmentopportunities arising in certain sectors, REITs are putting theircash to use in 2012.