Should you hold REITs in a Roth IRA?
If you invested in the REIT outside of your Roth IRA, the dividends would be taxed as income. In many ways, investing in REITs in your Roth IRA is the ideal way to invest in a REIT. Their dividends greatly compound over time and you won't have to pay taxes on them when you reach retirement age.
If you decide to pursue REIT investments in your Roth IRA account, you may experience several advantages. First, you benefit from tax-advantaged growth — the dividends you receive will not be taxed since they are in a Roth IRA, which you fund with money you already paid taxes on.
Is a Roth or traditional IRA the best choice? To be clear, retirement accounts are ideal places to hold REIT investments, as the benefits of tax-deferred investing can magnify the already tax-advantaged nature of these companies.
Key Takeaways
You can hold real estate in your IRA, but you'll need a self-directed IRA. Any real estate property you buy must be strictly for investment purposes; you and your family can't use it. Purchasing real estate within an IRA usually requires paying in cash, and the IRA must pay all ownership expenses.
REITs and REIT Funds
Real estate investment trusts are a poor fit for taxable accounts for the reason that I just mentioned. Their income tends to be high and often composes a big share of the returns that investors earn from them, as REITs must pay out a minimum of 90% of their taxable income in dividends each year.
To qualify as a REIT, a company must have the bulk of its assets and income connected to real estate investment and must distribute at least 90 percent of its taxable income to shareholders annually in the form of dividends.
The value of a REIT is based on the real estate market, so if interest rates increase and the demand for properties goes down as a result, it could lead to lower property values, negatively impacting the value of your investment.
We expect to see more institutional investors using REITs in 2023. Though we will continue to feel the aftershocks and tremors of the pandemic next year, we feel confident that REITs are on solid ground.
After a lackluster performance for the majority of 2023, the Fed's latest decision to keep interest rates steady and an indication of three rate cuts in 2024 are likely to make real estate investment trusts (REITs) an attractive investment option for many.
What this means is that REITs are ideal borrowers for banks. They are exactly who they want to do business with because they know that the risk of a REIT bankruptcy is extremely low. Just look at the past. There have been very few REIT bankruptcies over the past 50+ years.
Should you own REITs in an IRA?
Tax Advantages
IRA accounts can be used to purchase publicly traded and non-traded REIT shares. By holding REIT shares within an IRA account, investors can defer taxes on both the capital gains and dividend income until they make withdrawals in retirement, which may improve the overall tax efficiency of the investment.
- Collectibles. Your IRA cannot invest in collectibles. ...
- Loan to yourself or other disqualified persons. You cannot loan money to yourself or your business. ...
- Property that you or any other disqualified person owns. You cannot buy property that you or any other disqualified person owns.
“I recommend REITs within a managed portfolio,” Devine said, noting that most investors should limit their REIT exposure to between 2 percent and 5 percent of their overall portfolio. Here again, a financial professional can help you determine what percentage of your portfolio you should allocate toward REITs, if any.
REITs should generally be considered long-term investments
In many cases, this can take around 10 years to occur. And with publicly traded REITs that fluctuate with the stock market, Jhangiani recommends holding onto them for at least three years.
Holding REITs in retirement plans
If you hold an interest in a REIT as part of a tax-advantaged retirement savings plan, such as an IRA or 401(k), the different types of tax treatment don't really matter. That's because investment returns in such plans are not taxed when earned.
REIT Tax Overview
Dividends are tax deductible. At least 90% of net ordinary taxable income must be distributed and 100% is required to avoid REIT-level tax.
With respect to financial advisors, the just completed Chatham Partners survey found that 83% of financial advisors invest their clients in REITs and the most frequently referenced attribute they cite is “portfolio diversification.” As exhibited below, advisors recommend allocations to REITs in the range of 4% to 12% ...
For Group REITs, the consequences of leaving early apply when the principal company of the group gives notice for the group as a whole to leave the regime within ten years of joining or where an exiting company has been a member of the Group REIT for less than ten years.
Bad REIT earnings tend to run afoul of Section 856, which provides that at least 95% of a REIT's gross income must be derived from “rents from real property.” It also provides that at least 75% of its gross income must be derived from that source.
This is the biggest and most important mistake that REIT investors keep on making. They see REITs as "income vehicles" and therefore, they will select their investments based on their dividend yield. In their mind, the higher the better. But in reality, the dividend is just a capital allocation decision.
Can you lose money with REIT?
Any increase in the short-term interest rate eats into the profit—so if it doubled in our example above, there'd be no profit left. And if it goes up even higher, the REIT loses money. All of that makes mortgage REITs extremely volatile, and their dividends are also extremely unpredictable.
The FTSE Nareit All Equity index, consisting of REITs that exclude mortgages, generated a 15.9% annualized return during recessions and 22.7% in the year following the end of a downturn, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.
REITs have typically enjoyed strong absolute and relative total return performances after monetary policy tightening cycles end. The valuation divergence between REITs and private real estate will likely converge in 2024, making REITs an attractive option for investors.
- Robo-advisor portfolios. ...
- Growth stocks. ...
- Real estate/REITs. ...
- Target date funds. ...
- High-yield savings accounts. ...
- Roth IRA. ...
- Fixed annuities. Fixed annuities allow you to pay a set amount in exchange for guaranteed compensation. ...
- Money market mutual funds. Money market mutual funds tend to be one of the lowest-risk investments.
Symbol | Company | REIT performance (1-year total return) |
---|---|---|
AOMR | Angel Oak Mortgage Inc. | 60.92% |
SKT | Tanger Outlets | 55.01% |
MDV | Modiv Industrial Inc. | 44.80% |
SEVN | Seven Hills Realty Trust | 41.52% |