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ARTICLE · 09 SEPTEMBER 2009

Mortgage REITs Are Back (Again)

Morrison Foerster
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The last two months have seen a resurgence in mortgage real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) with over $1.2 billion in mortgage REIT initial public offerings.

United StatesFinance and Banking
Thomas Humphreys
Thomas Humphreys
Armin Gharagozlou
Armin Gharagozlou
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The last two months have seen a resurgence in mortgage real estate investment trusts ("REITs") with over $1.2 billion in mortgage REIT initial public offerings. Many other new mortgage REITs have filed registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").1 This explosion of new IPOs is simply another chapter in the evolution of mortgage REITS, which have a long and checkered history. We thought it would helpful to review mortgage REITS, past and present, in considering the current crop of offerings.

Background

A REIT is an investment vehicle designed to allow investors to pool capital to invest in real estate assets. It has certain advantages over other investment vehicles; in particular a REIT is entitled to pass-through taxation even if its equity is publicly traded. However, it also has disadvantages, including tax restrictions that limit the REIT to passive investments in qualifying assets (i.e., its assets must primarily consist of real

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