I recently finished some in-depth research comparing U.S. equity REITs with U.S. mortgage REITs and in the process, I uncovered some interesting facts. For example, U.S. equity REITs have outperformed their closest cousins (mortgage REITs) by around 300 basis points over the past 48 years. In fact, equity REITs outperformed mortgage REITs in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. During the 2000s mortgage REITs squeaked by with a victory, but that was primarily due to an outlier year (2001) when mortgage REITs returned over 77% and then the painful losses experienced during the great recession. Click to read more at www.forbes.com.