House of Cards

摘要

Mortgage REITs have been going great lately, thanks to low rates and low property loan defaults. But when things change, look out. The enduring allure of the collapse-prone mortgage REIT seems odd. The vast majority of real estate investment trusts—known as equity REITs—pay mostly cash for high-grade commercial properties. But the mortgage variety insists on using oceans of leverage to buy bonds backed by loans to homeowners or commercial landlords and, to a lesser degree, freestanding property loans to both.