A "real estate investment trust" or "REIT" is a corporation, association or trust that uses the pooled capital of investors to purchase and manage income property (equity REITs) and/or mortgage loans (mortgage REITs). A REIT generally is not required to pay corporate income tax if it distributes at least 95% of its taxable income to shareholders each year. REIT shares are often publicly traded on stock market exchanges, just like shares of common stock in other publicly traded companies.