By law they have to pass on 90% of all profits to the investor like a dividend however they're taxed a little differently. The cool thing is that at the start of 2019 the 10-year average return for REITs did better than the S&P 500 with an average return of 10%. If you're in the USA by investing in the VGSLX by Vanguard you can average a 12% return which beats the average real estate investor.