what is the national association of real estate investment trusts nareit 
the national association of real estate investment trusts nareit is a trade association that represents the interests of real estate investment trusts reits and other public companies that deal with the u s real estate market nareit was established in 1960 as a result of changes in u s legislation that opened up real estate investing to smaller investors the organization is based in washington d c and advocates on behalf of the reit based and real estate investment industry with investors and policymakers it publishes research and regularly holds educational events and conferences understanding national association of real estate investment trusts nareit nareit is a trade organization based in washington d c it represents the interests of the real estate and real estate investment industry including commercial equity reits mortgage reits reits traded on major stock exchanges public non listed reits and private reits according to the organization reits own over 3 5 trillion in gross assets across the united states 1the organization s mission is to advocate for reit based real estate investment with policymakers and the global investment community and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to benefit from real estate investment it also lobbies for the industry by representing its interests to american and global legislators and policymakers nareit represents over 200 member organizations that collaborate to make investing in income producing real estate simpler and more accessible through the purchase of stock individuals can access comprehensive industry data that is regularly produced and published by nareit they can also attend nareit sponsored events and conferences about the real estate industry and the performance of member reits nareit is run by an independent executive board which is responsible for keeping the organization on track toward its goals including budgeting and planning board members come from a variety of areas within the industry and many of them head reits and other real estate investment companies members of the organization s executive team which is led by the president and chief executive officer ceo are also part of the executive board 2nareit is made up of a community of industry professionals academics and companies that work together to promote the real estate industry and reits special considerationsnareit is partnered with several foreign entities in its political endeavors the most prominent relationship is with the ftse group and the european public real estate association these groups established the ftse epra nareit global real estate index series which highlights general trends in eligible real estate equities worldwide in october 2016 nareit created a real estate sustainability council to increase its focus on promoting sustainability and environmental social and governance esg best practices 3functions of national association of real estate investment trusts nareit nareit functions as an advocate for reits and public real estate companies representing them in legislative matters as well as matters of public policy a large part of what it does is to inform the investing community about reits their purpose and how these investments are managed nareit works to educate the community domestically and internationally even extending its efforts to include governments 4the organization operates at the highest levels of the u s and other governments working with them in real estate legislation and policy decisions individuals and corporations can become members of nareit some of the benefits for corporate members include exclusive access to investors increased visibility advocacy across all levels of government access to bleeding edge real estate research and savings and events only available to members 5individual members need to be stakeholders in the reit industry with over 1 200 members nareit s individual membership receives access to investment research members savings and visibility enhancement individual membership is not limited to reit owners and can include the professionals who support service and invest in reits 5corporations must be reit based in the u s a reit in a country with reit legislation or a listed real estate company in order to become a member of nareit 5nareit is the leading producer and sponsor of research publications and conferences on reit investment and also publishes news data and industry perspectives for instance nareit publishes it also compiles a group of indexes which provide real time and monthly updates on publicly traded reits equity reits and mortgage reits the organization also honors the achievements and contributions of its members and industry professionals with the annual investor care communications reporting excellence awards for corporate excellence in investor relationships leader in the light awards for member companies demonstrating superior sustainability practices and the leadership and industry achievement awards for outstanding contributions to the industry history of national association of real estate investment trusts nareit on sept 14 1960 president dwight d eisenhower signed legislation that created a new approach to income producing real estate investment the move would help smaller investors take advantage of investing in the real estate market something that was generally only available for large commercial entities the national association of real estate was incorporated the next day as a way to represent reits and real estate based investment companies 78the organization was known in the industry as nareit until 2017 when it was rebranded as nareit the organization said it rebranded to reflect changes within the industry notably a new era for our industry defined by the introduction of the new gics real estate sector and the growth and globalization of the industry according to nareit changing its brand identity allowed it to educate the investment industry about reits 9