Thinking about investing in real estate? Buying physical properties isn’t the only way to go about it these days. In recent years, real estate investment trusts (REITs) have emerged as a popular way to dip into the real estate market without directly buying a property.

If you’ve been considering investing in REITs, here’s what you need to know about them, how they’re different from investing in physical properties.

What is a REIT?

A REIT is like a unit trust fund, in that it pools many people’s money to hold a group of investments. However, instead of investing in stocks and bonds like unit trust funds do, REITs invest in property. You can buy and sell REITs on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), just like stocks.

REITs are therefore a way to invest in real estate without having to directly buy a physical property …