ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the North American region, using case studies from the US, Canada and Mexico. The United States is clearly the most highly developed REIT market in the world, with only Australia laying claim to some comparability. The US REIT sector illustrates how evolution in the REIT sector can drive legislative change and also how legislative change can drive evolution in the REIT sector. Canada, unlike Mexico but like the US, has a long history of a prosperous economy with highly developed economic institutions, including a highly developed real estate market structure. REITs in Canada, being a developing REIT sector in the North American region, shows how quickly a REIT industry may emerge out of a property market downturn that suddenly generates a supply of suitable investment stock. Mexico presents a good case study of an emerging-market economy with an emerging REIT sector.
