Multi-year forensic models, narrative investment memos, and proprietary risk scoring for Canadian public and private REITs. Built for the analysts who read the footnotes and the dealers who have to defend the placement.
Most REIT research tells you the portfolio grew. We tell you whether the investor got richer — and if not, precisely which decisions cost them.
Every REIT in coverage is tested against its own counterfactual: what would an investor have earned if management had simply run the existing portfolio without issuing equity, making acquisitions, or increasing leverage? The gap between that scenario and reality is the precise measure of whether management’s capital allocation decisions helped or hurt. This is the question that standard REIT research doesn’t ask — and can’t answer without a multi-year model. Our amplification framework, built on 15 years of institutional real estate investment experience, classifies the gap by materiality and calibrates every conclusion to the evidence.
Most REITs report two versions of their earnings: FFO (before reinvestment) and AFFO (after maintenance capex). The problem is that management defines what counts as “maintenance” — and that definition is elastic. We apply institutional benchmarks from Green Street Advisors, Chilton Capital, and NAREIT, then test them against what management has actually spent on their buildings year after year. The rationale: actual historical capex is the money it cost to generate the same-store NOI growth the company reports. The three-tier comparison — management’s classification, the institutional benchmark, and total audited cash flow statement capex — is a direct measure of earnings quality.
Our models go back up to 10 years — long enough to see whether management’s capital allocation patterns are structural or circumstantial, whether distribution coverage is trending toward sustainability or away from it, and whether the properties are delivering returns that reach the people who own them. We track management’s public commitments against actual outcomes across the entire series, scoring guidance accuracy by topic. A team that consistently delivers on operational promises but abandons capital allocation targets has a specific — and measurable — credibility profile.
Every covered REIT gets a full pro forma model, a narrative investment memo, and a forensic scorecard — updated as new financials drop. Compare them all in one place.
Each assessment follows the same forensic framework — but the story is different every time.
Exempt-market REITs have no analyst coverage, no independent price discovery, and no public financials. Your KYP obligation still applies. We do the forensic work so you can demonstrate you did yours.
Under NI 31-103 and the Client Focused Reforms, dealers must understand the structure, features, risks, and costs of every product they shelve — and the impact of those costs on client returns. For prospectus-qualified products, this information is standardized. For exempt-market REITs, it isn't.
Our KYP assessments are built from multi-year models of audited financial statements. We reconstruct the metrics that private REITs don't report — standard FFO, AFFO, distribution coverage, fee decomposition, implied cap rates — and present them in a format designed for compliance review.
The first assessment covers Centurion Apartment REIT — 22,100 units of genuinely good Canadian rental housing, wrapped in a fee structure that consumed 72% of net operating income in FY2024. The properties perform. The structure extracts. The assessment documents both.
Additional private REIT assessments — including Skyline Apartment REIT and Epiphany Legacy Investment MFT — are in the pipeline. If your shelf includes an exempt-market real estate product you need assessed, request a custom KYP engagement.
See how our framework maps against CIRO, AIMA, and Kitces due diligence requirements →
Our longest forensic investigation — a 32-minute deep dive into Centurion Apartment REIT's fee architecture, distribution mechanics, and capital dependency. The buildings earn money. The structure ensures very little of it reaches the people who own the units. Free to read.
Whether you're underwriting a public REIT or conducting KYP on a private one — request access to the full platform, or ask for a custom engagement on a specific product.