Foreword from the Guest Editors

This is the first of two special issues of Real Estate Economics dedicated to the study of Real Estate Investment Trusts or REITs. The goal of these special issues is modest. Rather than attempting to provide a comprehensive survey of current research on REITs,1 our objective is instead to provide readers with a sampling of the various general directions of inquiry either about REITs or employing REITs. The volume of research on REITs has exploded in recent years. The objective of this introduction is to provide three non-mutually exclusive catalysts for this explosion, and to provide brief summaries of the studies contained herein.