Real estate investment trusts beat private real estate funds in both the short and long term, according to a recent study.

Over the past 30 years, REITs outperformed private funds by an average of 487 basis points per year, says a report published in early fall by Cohen & Steers, a New York-based money-management firm. REITs, which like private funds invest in such properties as office buildings, malls and hotels but are traded on stock markets, also beat the private funds by anywhere from 245 basis points per year to 1,159 bps on a 1-year, 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year basis, according to the study, entitled....

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