4 REITs That Could Help You Build Wealth in the Next 10 Years
Building wealth through real estate doesn’t have to involve buying a property or answering tenants’ calls. Real estate investment trusts, or REITs, offer another route: owning shares in businesses that collect income from commercial properties.
These four REITs could collect more income by raising rents, filling empty rooms or leasing space to new customers. Investors can benefit through dividends and potential share-price gains. Reinvesting those dividends buys additional shares that can generate payments of their own.
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Here’s what makes each company worth a closer look, and what could get in the way.
1. Realty Income: Monthly Dividends, Long-Term Tenants
Realty Income (NYSE: O) leases properties to businesses and uses rental income to help fund monthly dividends.
Most of Realty Income’s leases require tenants to pay property taxes, insurance and maintenance costs. The company also favors retail businesses that provide recurring services, necessities or inexpensive goods, according to its 2025 annual report. Having tenants cover those bills leaves more rental income available to support dividends.
At the end of the second quarter of 2026, its properties were 98.8% occupied, according to Realty Income’s earnings release.
Long leases help keep rent coming in, while new properties give Realty Income room to grow. That could mean larger dividends for investors. Higher borrowing costs or missed rent payments can hurt earnings, risks the company outlines in its 2025 annual report.
2. Prologis: Higher Rents From Existing Warehouses
Prologis (NYSE: PLD) owns warehouses and logistics properties that businesses use to store and distribute goods. Locations near customers and transportation routes can help tenants move products efficiently.
Older leases give Prologis an opportunity to collect more rent from buildings it already owns. When those leases expire, the company can charge higher rents if demand supports them.
Prologis reported a 22.3% increase in starting cash rents across new and renewed leases that began in the second quarter of 2026, compared with the prior leases’ final rents for the same space.
The company also cautions in its earnings release that economic conditions and competition could affect future results.
3. Digital Realty: Turning Computing Demand Into Rent
The AI boom needs somewhere to put all that computing equipment. Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) lets investors buy shares in a company that owns data centers serving that market. Its facilities support cloud services and AI, according to its earnings release.
Digital Realty’s signed leases that hadn’t yet begun were expected to bring in $1.4 billion in annual base rent, including its share from jointly owned properties, according to its second-quarter 2026 earnings release.
As the leases begin, rental income can grow and help fund dividends after expenses.
Expansion also depends on electricity. Digital Realty warns in its 2025 annual report that a lack of power could prevent it from leasing available space and complicate new development.
4. Welltower: Fuller Communities, More Income
Welltower (NYSE: WELL) owns senior-housing properties. As the population ages, the company could benefit from more people seeking housing with support and care. Filling empty rooms gives Welltower a way to earn more from properties it already owns.
Welltower reported that net operating income rose 20.5% in the second quarter of 2026 from a year earlier across the same group of senior-housing operating properties. The measure reflects revenue minus property operating expenses.
Earning more from its senior-housing properties could help Welltower fund dividends. Higher staffing costs can reduce earnings, and Welltower notes in its 2025 annual report that labor shortages have increased costs for its operators and tenants.
Bottom Line: The Purchase Price Still Matters
A growing business can still be a disappointing investment if its shares cost too much. Returns over the next decade will depend on the purchase price, dividends and how each company performs.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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