Real Estate Investment Trusts Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Investment Analysts, Portfolio Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-TI-012

Before you join: Participants should have basic financial statement literacy and confidence with percentage calculations, discounted cash flow principles and common corporate finance terms.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Real estate investment trusts provide liquid access to income-producing property, but their valuation and risk profile differ materially from direct real estate holdings and conventional listed equities. Investors must assess property cash flows, lease expiries, debt structures, development pipelines, tax requirements and management incentives while interpreting market prices that can move independently from appraised asset values. Poor analysis can lead to overstated income expectations, missed refinancing risk and incorrect conclusions about discounts to net asset value.

This course develops the analytical methods used to assess listed REITs and property securities. Participants examine REIT structures, financial statements, funds from operations, adjusted FFO, net operating income, capital expenditure, debt capacity, distributions and portfolio composition. They build valuations using direct capitalization, discounted cash flow, net asset value and trading multiples, then test investment cases under changes in interest rates, rental growth, capitalization rates and financing conditions. The course also addresses governance, tax qualification, disclosure, regulation and cross-border considerations.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with financial statement analysis, property cash-flow modelling, valuation cases, group discussion and investment-committee style reviews. Participants work with realistic REIT disclosures, earnings materials and property portfolio data from sectors such as offices, logistics, retail, residential, healthcare and data centres. They leave with a reusable REIT investment analysis pack containing valuation, cash-flow, debt-risk and monitoring templates.

The course suits finance professionals who analyse, invest in, finance, regulate or report on listed property companies and REITs. It is particularly relevant to treasury teams, investment professionals, corporate finance staff, credit analysts, accountants and risk managers seeking a structured basis for evaluating real estate securities.

What you will be able to do

  • Analyse REIT legal structures, tax requirements and management arrangements
  • Interpret REIT financial statements using NOI, FFO, AFFO and same-property metrics
  • Build property-level cash-flow forecasts from leases, operating costs and capital expenditure
  • Value a REIT using net asset value, discounted cash flow and market multiples
  • Assess debt maturity, covenant, liquidity and interest-rate risk
  • Evaluate portfolio quality through sector, tenant, geography and lease-expiry analysis
  • Prepare an investment memorandum with catalysts, risks, valuation and monitoring triggers
  • Design a quarterly REIT monitoring dashboard for investment or credit review

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Assess listed REITs using recognised property-security valuation methods
  • Explain FFO, AFFO and NAV differences to investment committees
  • Identify refinancing, lease-rollover and distribution coverage risks earlier
  • Build defensible REIT investment or credit recommendations
  • Transfer property-security analysis skills across international REIT markets

For your organisation

  • Improve consistency of REIT investment and credit assessments
  • Strengthen challenge of management guidance and reported performance measures
  • Identify debt maturity and covenant pressures before refinancing events
  • Produce clearer valuation support for acquisition, disposal and portfolio decisions
  • Create repeatable monitoring for listed property exposures and counterparties

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish major REIT structures and identify the economic drivers of different property portfolios.

  • REIT legal form, sponsor roles, and listed property ownership models
  • Equity, mortgage, hybrid, public, private, and non-listed REIT distinctions
  • US REIT income, asset, distribution, and shareholder tests
  • UK REIT, Singapore S-REIT, and selected international regime comparisons
  • Property sectors, tenant profiles, lease structures, and revenue drivers
  • Reading an annual report: property portfolio, debt, and share data
  • External versus internal management structures and associated agency conflicts

Participants can interpret REIT accounts and reconcile property-sector performance measures to reported results.

  • IFRS investment property measurement under IAS 40 and fair value gains
  • US GAAP real estate presentation and depreciation considerations
  • Consolidated financial statements, non-controlling interests, and joint venture reporting
  • Funds from operations using Nareit adjustments to net income
  • Adjusted FFO policies, recurring capital expenditure, and comparability limits
  • Same-property NOI growth reconciled from rental income and expenses
  • Tenant reimbursements, straight-line rents, and lease incentives assessed
  • Reviewing footnotes for valuation inputs, commitments, and related parties

Participants can forecast REIT operating cash generation and assess the quality and sustainability of distributions.

  • Net operating income built from gross revenue and controllable expenses
  • Capital expenditure separated into maintenance, tenant improvement, and development categories
  • Lease expiry schedules and renewal assumptions translated into cash flows
  • Like-for-like metrics distinguished from acquisition and disposal effects
  • Distribution coverage tested against AFFO, liquidity, and covenant constraints
  • Property-level operating model linked to consolidated REIT cash generation
  • Working capital, interest payments, and tax timing incorporated into forecasts

Participants can calculate and compare REIT values using income, asset and market-based approaches.

  • Direct capitalization valuation using market-derived cap rates and stabilized NOI
  • Discounted cash flow models built with explicit reversion value assumptions
  • Net asset value calculated from asset appraisals, liabilities, and dilution
  • Comparable REIT multiples interpreted through P/FFO, P/AFFO, and NAV discounts
  • Dividend discount models assessed against payout policy and growth estimates
  • Sensitivity tables isolate cap-rate, rental-growth, and terminal-value effects
  • Triangulating equity value across DCF, NAV, and market multiples

Participants can explain how economic conditions and capital markets affect REIT valuations and returns.

  • Interest-rate transmission to property values, borrowing costs, and REIT pricing
  • CAPM required return estimated from beta, risk-free rate, and premium
  • Cost of equity compared with implied capitalization rates and growth
  • Premium-to-NAV and discount-to-NAV signals interpreted with market context
  • Yield curve, inflation, GDP, and employment indicators linked to sectors
  • Public-market volatility separated from private-property appraisal movements
  • Scenario assumptions documented for base, upside, and downside investment cases

Participants can evaluate REIT financing capacity, refinancing exposure and interest-rate risk.

  • Debt maturity ladders mapped against fixed-rate, floating-rate, and refinancing exposure
  • Loan-to-value, interest coverage, and fixed-charge coverage ratios calculated
  • Secured debt, unsecured bonds, revolvers, and commercial mortgages compared
  • At-the-market equity issuance, rights offerings, and dividend reinvestment evaluated
  • Weighted average cost of capital applied to acquisition hurdle rates
  • Interest-rate swaps and caps examined for hedging effectiveness and basis risk
  • Credit ratings, covenants, and restricted payments reviewed before investment

Participants can identify regulatory, tax and governance issues that affect REIT value and distributions.

  • Taxable income and distribution requirements reconciled with accounting earnings
  • Asset and income qualification tests monitored through portfolio changes
  • Related-party transactions, prohibited transactions, and taxable REIT subsidiaries identified
  • Withholding tax and treaty considerations assessed for cross-border investors
  • Market-abuse controls, disclosure obligations, and insider-information procedures reviewed
  • Board independence, conflicts policy, and manager incentives evaluated
  • Regulatory change scenarios translated into valuation and distribution impacts

Participants can assess property portfolio quality and evaluate management capital-allocation decisions.

  • Property-sector allocation assessed using demand drivers, supply pipelines, and lease duration
  • Geographic concentration measured through asset value, NOI, and tenant exposure
  • Tenant credit, top-ten concentration, and lease rollover risk analysed
  • Acquisition underwriting tested against strategic fit, valuation, and financing capacity
  • Development pipelines reviewed for cost overruns, preleasing, and completion timing
  • Disposition decisions evaluated through recycling spreads and capital allocation discipline
  • ESG data, physical climate risk, and energy performance incorporated
  • Peer benchmarking compares margins, growth, debt, and capital deployment

Participants can prepare a structured REIT investment assessment supported by evidence and downside analysis.

  • Investment memorandum structured around thesis, catalysts, valuation, and key risks
  • Annual reports, earnings calls, presentations, and supplemental packages cross-checked
  • Management guidance tested against historical delivery and operating indicators
  • Property appraisals challenged through cap-rate evidence and transaction comparables
  • Short thesis risk factors documented without relying on share-price momentum
  • Investment committee questions prepared for assumptions, governance, and downside
  • Buy, hold, and sell triggers defined with monitoring thresholds

Participants can establish a practical monitoring process for REIT holdings, counterparties or peer groups.

  • Portfolio monitoring dashboard specifies NAV, FFO, AFFO, debt, and operating indicators
  • Quarterly results review reconciles actual performance with investment thesis
  • Variance analysis separates market, operating, financing, and management drivers
  • Watchlist protocols set escalation thresholds for covenant, liquidity, and governance events
  • Position sizing aligned with liquidity, concentration limits, and conviction
  • Action plan sequences research, approvals, monitoring, and review responsibilities
  • Personal dealing and conflicts declarations incorporated into investment procedures

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. REIT financial statement analysis template
  2. Property-level NOI and AFFO forecast model
  3. NAV and discounted cash-flow valuation model
  4. Debt maturity and covenant risk checklist
  5. REIT investment memorandum template
  6. Quarterly REIT monitoring dashboard

Who should attend

  • Investment Analysts — assess listed REITs for equity research, funds or portfolios
  • Portfolio Managers — compare property securities, valuation signals and position risks
  • Treasury Professionals — evaluate REIT funding structures, liquidity and refinancing exposure
  • Credit Analysts — assess property cash flows, covenants and borrower debt capacity
  • Corporate Finance Managers — analyse REIT capital raising, acquisitions and asset recycling
  • Accountants and Financial Controllers — interpret REIT reporting, distributions and performance measures

Skills and tools covered

REIT valuationProperty cash-flow modellingFFO and AFFO analysisDebt risk assessmentPortfolio due diligenceInvestment monitoring

Tools and standards

Nareit FFO definitions, EPRA Best Practices Recommendations, IAS 40 Investment Property, IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce REIT structures, accounting measures, valuation methods and risk indicators. Participants analyse annual reports, earnings releases, debt disclosures and property portfolio schedules, then apply the methods through case work and facilitated group exercises. Financial modelling simulations test changes in capitalization rates, rental growth, debt costs and distributions. Investment-committee discussions develop concise recommendations and challenge assumptions. Each participant completes an application plan for using the analysis tools in current investment, treasury, credit or reporting responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic financial statement literacy and confidence with percentage calculations, discounted cash flow principles and common corporate finance terms. Experience in investment analysis, treasury, accounting, banking, property finance or corporate finance is useful. Participants should be able to read an income statement, balance sheet and cash-flow statement. Prior real estate sector experience is not required, and no previous REIT investing, property appraisal qualification or advanced financial modelling background is assumed. The course explains sector terminology before applying it in analysis.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need basic financial statement literacy and familiarity with standard corporate finance terms. Prior property-sector experience is useful but not required, and the course does not assume advanced modelling skills.

Bring a laptop with spreadsheet software for model-based work and note taking. Participants may also bring a current REIT, property company or financing case they want to consider during application planning.

The course is designed for investment, treasury, credit, corporate finance, accounting and risk professionals. It suits those who need to assess listed property companies, property-backed borrowers or REIT investment opportunities.

Direct real estate valuation courses focus primarily on individual properties and appraisal methods. This course includes property valuation but also addresses listed-equity pricing, FFO and AFFO, distributions, capital structure, governance and REIT-specific tax requirements.

Participants can use the templates to review REIT earnings, assess NAV discounts, test debt maturity risk and prepare investment or credit recommendations. The monitoring dashboard also supports regular portfolio, counterparty and peer-group reviews.

The five-day programme runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between instructor briefings, disclosure analysis, valuation work, case discussions, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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