REIT Analysis Workbook: Evaluating and Comparing Real Estate Investment Trusts

Understanding how REITs work is the foundation; knowing how to actually evaluate one — reading its supplemental package, comparing it to sector peers, and deciding whether the dividend is sustainable — requires a hands-on process. This workbook course provides that process, walking you through the analytical steps on realistic REIT scenarios from first number to final judgment. By the end of this course you will be able to calculate and interpret FFO and AFFO from a REIT income statement, assess dividend sustainability using payout ratio and balance sheet leverage, compare two REITs within the same sector using a structured scorecard, and apply a basic screening checklist to identify REIT candidates worth deeper analysis. What you will learn: - Navigating a REIT supplemental data package: which tables matter and what to look for - Calculating FFO and AFFO from reported net income: step-by-step adjustment process - Assessing dividend safety: FFO payout ratio, debt-to-EBITDA, and interest coverage - Same-store NOI growth as a measure of operational quality: how to extract and interpret it - Comparing two industrial REITs on a structured scorecard: occupancy, lease duration, and rent growth - Interest rate sensitivity analysis: modeling how a rate increase affects a mortgage REIT's net interest margin - Building a REIT screening checklist: sector, yield, FFO payout, leverage, and management track record - Interpreting a REIT's guidance and outlook commentary in an earnings release Each module provides a realistic but fictional REIT document excerpt — an income statement, a supplemental data table, or an earnings release — and guides you through the analysis with step-by-step prompts and a completion worksheet. Annotated answer keys explain common interpretation errors. A final capstone exercise asks you to compare two fictional REITs in the same sector and prepare a brief written evaluation. This course is written for individual investors with basic stock analysis experience who want to extend that skill to REITs, as well as for financial advisors and wealth management students who are new to real estate securities. Familiarity with income statements and dividends is helpful but not strictly required. This course is informational and educational; it does not constitute investment advice.