REITs are created when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the REIT Act title law contained in the Cigar Excise Tax Extension of 1960. REITs were created by Congress in order to give all investors the opportunity to invest in large-scale, diversified portfolios of income-producing real estate.

The National Association of Real Estate Investment Funds, later changed to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, is incorporated. Nareit is the worldwide representative voice for REITs and publicly traded real estate companies with an interest in U.S. real estate and capital markets.

The first REITs—Bradley Real Estate Investors, Continental Mortgage Investors, First Mortgage Investors, First Union Real Estate, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, and Washington Real Estate Investment Trust—are created.

Continental Mortgage Investors becomes the first REIT to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The first Wall Street research piece on REITs is published. The report is written by Michael Emmerman, an analyst at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers, LLC.

The first European REIT legislation passes in The Netherlands. This marks the beginning of the global spread of the REIT model, with listed property trusts launching in Australia shortly after in 1971. Canadian REITs debut in 1993, but it isn't until the turn of the century that expansion takes off. REITs begin to spread across Asia with the launch of Japanese REITs in 2001. REITs in Europe are buoyed by legislation in France (2003), Germany (2007), and the U.K. (2007). In total, more than 40 countries now have REIT legislation.

The initial REIT expansion takes place as total industry assets increase from about $1 billion to more than $21 billion, primarily fueled by mortgage REITs engaged in land development and construction financing. REIT balance sheet leverage soars. This first high point ends when a severe recession begins after the 1973 oil embargo. Mortgage REITs are hit particularly hard and many companies enter bankruptcy proceedings, liquidate, or are sold.

The National Real Estate Stock Fund is formed as the first open-end mutual fund devoted to REITs and other real estate securities. Today, there are more than 200 dedicated real estate mutual funds tracked by Lipper. In 1986, Martin Cohen and Robert Steers launch Cohen & Steers, which for many years was the nation's largest REIT manager.

President Ronald Reagan signs the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Among its real estate provisions, there are several new rules that prevent taxpayers from using partnerships to shelter earnings from other sources. Additionally, a number of REIT simplification changes take effect, including one that for the first time allows REITs to be internally advised and managed.

The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index Fund launches, becoming the first real estate exchange traded fund. Within less than a year, it is joined by the streetTRACKS Wilshire REIT Index Fund and iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors Index Fund.

Standard & Poor's opens its indexes to REITs. Equity Office Properties Trust is the first REIT named to the S&P 500 Index, and a month later Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) follows.

In a joint venture, Nareit, EPRA, and Euronext launch the EPRA/Nareit Global Real Estate Index. In February 2005, FTSE Group assumes responsibility for calculating and distributing the renamed FTSE EPRA/Nareit Global Real Estate Index Series. FTSE's involvement enhances the exposure and credibility of the global index as FTSE indexes are used extensively by investors worldwide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation, portfolio hedging, and for creating a wide range of index-tracking funds.

IBM, the country's largest 401(k) plan sponsor at the time, introduces a REIT index fund as a distinct investment choice to its plan. An IBM spokesperson is quoted as saying that the new REIT index fund gives its plan participants "the opportunity to invest in what we consider to be a separate asset class which increasingly seems to have a low correlation to other more traditional asset classes."

President George W. Bush signs the American Jobs Creation Act into law, which includes all three titles of the REIT Improvement Act. Two of the primary provisions eliminate a discriminatory barrier to foreign investors buying publicly listed REIT stock, and allow a REIT to either fix a mistake or pay monetary penalties for most violations of the REIT tax rules, instead of facing possible loss of REIT status as under prior law.

Nareit's annual Leader in the Light® Awards honor Nareit member companies that implement and engage stakeholders around environmentally and socially responsible practices that create business value and positively impact communities within their own portfolios and across the REIT industry.

The first meeting of the Real Estate Equity Securitization Alliance (REESA) is held during Nareit's 2006 Annual Convention. REESA members include APREA, the Association for Real Estate Securitization (Japan), the British Property Federation, EPRA, Nareit, the Property Council of Australia, and the Real Property Association of Canada. Its mission is to further the interests of REITs and income-producing real estate around the world.

Ibbotson Associates releases results of its landmark research clarifying the benefits of global REIT and listed property company allocations in diversified investment portfolios. The results demonstrate for the first time to investors worldwide the diversification benefits available from investing in U.S. REITs as well as REITs and listed property companies in their home countries.

NAREIT leads an international effort with its REESA partners that successfully modifies the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's model tax treaty to achieve uniform tax treatment for cross-border REIT investments around the world.

REIT Investment, Diversification, and Empowerment Act (RIDEA) is signed by President George W. Bush. The law allows REITs to buy and sell assets more efficiently, increases the size of taxable REIT subsidiaries, and allows health care REITs to use taxable REIT subsidiaries in the same manner as hotel REITs.

Ibbotson Associates releases results of its pioneering research with respect to the benefits of including publicly traded REITs and property companies in long-term, diversified investment portfolios using liability relative optimization.

FTSE, Nareit, and EPRA announce the addition of REITs and listed property companies in emerging markets to the FTSE EPRA/Nareit Global Real Estate Index.

In response to the global credit crisis, listed REITs respond by deleveraging and re-equitizing their balance sheets. Listed REITs and REOCs raise $37.5 billion in 91 secondary equity offerings, nine IPOs, and 37 unsecured debt offerings as investors continue to act favorably to companies strengthening their balance sheets following the credit crisis.

The Chinese government introduces REIT legislation to drive growth in strategic sectors, including infrastructure, ports, logistics, and data centers. The country’s first batch of pilot REITs debuts in June 2021, and the government modifies REIT rules at the end of 2021 to also include residential.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopts amendments to modernize the Regulation S-K disclosure requirements related to the description of business, legal proceedings, and risk factors. Nareit has long endorsed the SEC’s ongoing Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative to address outdated, duplicative, and confusing disclosure obligations.

The issuance of these final regulations confirms that shareholders of mutual funds owning REIT stock can obtain the 20% deduction under section 199A.

Approximately 50% of U.S. households are invested in REIT stocks directly or indirectly through mutual funds, ETFs, or target date funds.

There are 42 countries and regions, accounting for 85% of global GDP with a combined population of more than 5 billion people, which have enacted REIT legislation.

The changes to the FTSE EPRA Nareit Global Extended Index Series represents an expansion of real estate property sector coverage to pick up new and emergent sectors. This includes telecommunications and timberland, and additional securities beyond what is eligible for the FTSE EPRA Nareit Global Index Series, and based on the membership of these companies in the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index.

President Donald Trump signs H.R. 1, the budget reconciliation and tax bill, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Among many provisions, the legislation permanently extends the qualified business income deduction and qualified REIT dividend deduction, along with the current section 199A 20% deduction. It also restores to 25% the limit of the percentage of a REIT’s assets that may be comprised of securities in a taxable REIT subsidiary.