While nontraded real estate investment trusts (REITs) have faced another challenging year, financial advisors are seeing a rise in sales of alternative investments overall. By August, financial advisors sold $76.6 billion of illiquid alternatives, including nontraded REITs, business development companies (BDCs), interval funds, and private placements. 

This amount matches 2023's total, with projections indicating the industry will surpass $115 billion by the end of 2024. Sales of nontraded REITs have notably decreased to $4.2 billion in the first eight months, compared to their peak of over $33 billion in 2022. 

However, BDCs have overtaken REITs as the most popular alternative investment sold, with $23.7 billion in sales through August. Blackstone Inc. leads in nontraded REIT and BDC sales this year.

Finsum: There is still an elevated risk premium built into most non-treasury rates right currently but REITs could see a bounce back with that falling soon.