From the Journal on REITs’ 2008: "As their worst year on record finally ends, real-estate investment trusts are bracing for a Darwinian 2009. … During 2008, investors treated almost all REITs with a heavy dose of skepticism. Of the 114 stocks tracked by the Dow Jones Equity All REIT index, only four had positive returns. The biggest winner: Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad, a tiny company that owns the land beneath a small railroad in Appalachia, rose 50%."
We covered in November the state of local REITs like SL Green, Vornado and Boston Properties (BXP), including the difficulties in evaluating their values in a sinking overall market.
