The Real Estate Glossary.
Plain-language definitions for the REIT, property and market terms used across Real Estate Presswire coverage.
Real estate structures
- REIT
- Real Estate Investment Trust — a company that owns or finances income-producing property and, to qualify, distributes most of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends.
- Equity REIT
- A REIT that owns and operates physical properties, earning rental income.
- Mortgage REIT (mREIT)
- A REIT that lends or invests in mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, earning spread income.
- Hybrid REIT
- A REIT combining equity property ownership with mortgage holdings.
- Net lease
- A lease where the tenant pays some or all property operating expenses in addition to rent.
- Triple net (NNN) lease
- A net lease where the tenant pays taxes, insurance, and maintenance — common in single-tenant retail and industrial.
- Built world
- The physical real-estate and infrastructure asset class — the universe Real Estate Presswire covers.
- Commercial real estate
- Income-producing property such as office, retail, industrial, and hospitality.
- Residential real estate
- Property used for living — single-family homes, apartments, and rental housing.
REIT & property metrics
- FFO
- Funds From Operations — a NAREIT earnings measure: net income plus depreciation/amortization, minus gains on property sales.
- AFFO
- Adjusted FFO — FFO adjusted for recurring capital expenditures; a closer proxy for distributable cash flow.
- NOI
- Net Operating Income — property rental revenue minus operating expenses, before interest, taxes, and depreciation.
- Same-store NOI
- NOI from properties held for a full comparable period, used to isolate organic growth from acquisitions.
- Cap rate
- Capitalization rate — net operating income divided by property value; a property yield measure.
- Occupancy
- The share of rentable space or units currently leased.
- ABR
- Annualized Base Rent — total contractual base rent across a portfolio, annualized.
- P/FFO
- Price-to-FFO multiple — a valuation ratio for REITs analogous to the P/E ratio.
- 90% rule
- The REIT requirement to distribute at least 90% of taxable income to shareholders to avoid entity-level tax.
REIT sectors
- Industrial REIT
- A REIT owning logistics, warehouse, and distribution space (e.g., Prologis, Extra Space).
- Data center REIT
- A REIT owning data-center facilities (e.g., Equinix, Digital Realty).
- Retail REIT
- A REIT owning shopping centers and malls (e.g., Simon Property).
- Residential REIT
- A REIT owning apartments or single-family rentals (e.g., AvalonBay, Equity Residential, Invitation Homes).
- Healthcare REIT
- A REIT owning hospitals, senior housing, and medical offices (e.g., Welltower).
- Tower REIT
- A REIT owning communications-tower infrastructure (e.g., American Tower, Crown Castle).
- Gaming & lodging REIT
- A REIT owning casino and hotel properties (e.g., VICI).
Companies we cover
- Homebuilder
- A company that constructs homes for sale (e.g., D.R. Horton, Lennar, NVR, PulteGroup).
- Prop-tech
- Technology platforms for real-estate search, transactions, and management (e.g., Zillow, Compass, Opendoor).
- Brokerage & services
- Property transaction, valuation, and advisory firms (e.g., CBRE, JLL, Blackstone).
- Mortgage finance
- Originators and servicers of home loans (e.g., Rocket Companies, UWM, Rithm Capital).
Market & finance
- Market capitalization
- Share price multiplied by shares outstanding — the total equity value of a company.
- EPS
- Earnings per share — net income divided by the weighted average share count.
- P/E ratio
- Price-to-earnings ratio — share price divided by earnings per share.
- Forward P/E
- Price divided by projected (forward) earnings per share.
- Beta
- A measure of a stock’s volatility relative to the broader market.
- Dividend
- A cash distribution a company pays to its shareholders.
- Dividend yield
- Annual dividends per share divided by the share price.
- Ex-dividend date
- The date by which you must own shares to receive the next dividend.
- Guidance
- A company’s forward-looking outlook on earnings, revenue, or other metrics.
- Sector (GICS)
- The Real Estate sector (GICS sector 40) groups publicly traded property companies.
Housing & economy
- Housing starts
- The number of new residential construction projects begun — a key housing-economy indicator.
- Mortgage
- A loan secured by real property, repaid over time with interest.
- Refinance (refi)
- Replacing an existing mortgage with a new one, often to lower the rate or change terms.
Definitions are provided for general reference and may be simplified. They are not investment advice. Where a company is named as an example, it is for illustration only — not a recommendation.