No serious investor would expect a screwdriver to turn a bolt or a wrench to drive a screw. Each tool is designed for a specific task. Used correctly, both are indispensable. Used interchangeably, both are inefficient — and occasionally damaging.
Yet this is precisely how public and private real estate investment vehicles are often discussed: as if they are interchangeable, competing products distinguished primarily by fees, liquidity or convenience. They are not. Public and private real estate vehicles are different tools, designed for different applications, and a well-constructed real estate portfolio — and, by extension, a well-constructed mixed-asset portfolio — typically benefits from using both.
Public real estate vehicles — REITs, REIT mutual funds and REIT exchang
