Best Real Estate Stocks Of December 2023 (2024)

Prologis, Inc. is a logistics real estate company that focuses on high-barrier, high-growth markets, serving approximately 5,800 customers across business-to-business and retail/online fulfillment.

At the end of 2022, Prologis owned or had investments in properties and development projects totalling 1.2 billion square feet in 19 countries. For the full year 2022, the company generated $5.97 billion in revenue, compared to $4.76 billion in 2021. Net earnings were $3.36 billion, versus $2.93 billion in 2021.

Founded in 1995, American Tower Corporation is a REIT that owns, operates and develops wireless and broadcast communications, including more than 221,000 communications sites, 43,000 of which are located across the U.S. and Canada. The company employs 5,600 employees across 22 countries. In 2022, AMT grew total annual revenue by 14.5% to $10.7 billion, while net income decreased 34% year over year to $1.7 billion.

Equinix was founded in Silicon Valley in 1998 as a data center provider, allowing competing networks to connect and share data traffic. The company converted to a REIT in 2015 for tax benefits, and its current global infrastructure is larger than its 10 largest competitors combined. The company provides customers access to over 1,800 network services, 2,900 cloud and IT services, 1,250 financial services, and 600 content and digital media services.

Crown Castle International is a REIT that owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and 80,000 route miles of fiber, and offers services through multiple models—some privately owned and others in partnership with local governments or other partners. The company’s infrastructure also supports more than 110,000 small cells and provides fiber connectivity solutions to every major market in the U.S.

The company has made it a goal to create a smaller environmental footprint by creating a shared infrastructure model that reduces the overall number of towers, small cell networks, fiber lines and data centers needed to supply customers. This reduction in infrastructure also puts less of a strain on other resources, like water and energy.

Welltower is a healthcare REIT that was founded in 1970. The company owns and operates healthcare properties, including senior housing, post-acute care and outpatient medical. In 2018, the company completed its acquisition of Quality Care Properties, HCR ManorCare and Arden Courts, previously the second largest provider of post-acute services and long-term care in the U.S.

The iconic orange and white ‘Public Storage’ sign can be recognized across the country, and with good reason. Public Storage opened its first self-storage facility in 1972, and has since become the largest owner and operator of self-storage facilities in the world.

The company owns nearly 2,500 facilities across the U.S. and Europe, with more than 170 million square feet of rentable space. Public Storage is one of the largest landlords in the world, serving more than a million customers across 38 states and seven EU nations.

Simon Property Group is a REIT that owns, operates and develops shopping, dining and entertaining retail properties. The company is one of the largest owners and operators of these types of businesses in the world, with locations in North America—37 states and Puerto Rico—plus Europe and Asia.

In addition to being the largest mall operator in the U.S., SPG also owns and operates premium outlets and lifestyle centers, as well as its international properties. With more than 23,274 specialty shop locations across their portfolio, the company produces $60 billion in annual U.S. sales from 3 billion annual customers.

Digital Realty Trust is a REIT that owns and operates carrier-neutral data centers and provides cloud-based enterprise solutions. Founded in 2004, Digital Realty provides colocation and peering services to customers around the globe. The company owns more than 290 data centers in 26 countries on 6 continents.

One of the company’s primary aims is to minimize its environmental impact, particularly by optimizing its energy usage. To do so, it has achieved 100% reliance on wind power for its U.S. colocation services, and it has built more green buildings than any other provider in its industry.

Realty Income Corp is a REIT that was founded in 1969 with the primary aim of providing investors with monthly income that would increase over time. Realty Income’s dividends are paid from revenue generated through leased real estate, and since going public in 1994, the company has grown its portfolio to more than 11,000 properties in all 50 states (plus Puerto Rico, the U.K. and Spain).

As with the other companies on this list, Realty Income works hard to curb their environmental impact, including launching their Green Financing Framework to raise capital for acquisition and development of green certified buildings and implementation of projects that further their sustainability goal.

CoStar is the only non-REIT on this list of the biggest real estate companies by market capitalization. The firm provides marketing and data analysis services to companies in the global commercial property market. Among its biggest brands are online marketplaces for buying and selling real estate, plus research and data provision.