REIT University
Intermediate track
Six courses that turn REIT vocabulary into craft — opening a real disclosure package and doing the analysis yourself, from reconciliations to a normalized peer comparison.
The Beginner track taught the vocabulary: what a REIT is, why IFRS net income misleads, what FFO, AFFO, and the three NAV measures — Reported, Real Estate, and Market-Implied — mean, and how distributions and leverage work. The Intermediate track teaches the craft — opening a real Canadian REIT's filings and doing the analysis yourself. Every course is anchored to actual disclosure, and every course ends with something you can now do, not just define.
Lessons run about fifteen minutes because you now work through real documents. Each keeps the Beginner anatomy: learning objectives, concept sections, a worked Canadian example, an analyst-traps callout, a key-terms table, and a five-question knowledge check with explained answers. Choice Properties (CHP.UN) remains the running case study, with CT REIT (CRT.UN) and First Capital (FCR.UN) as contrast cases in the capstone.
Assumed knowledge: all six Beginner courses and comfort with basic financial statements.
The curriculum
| # | Course | What you will be able to do | Anchor example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reading REIT Filings | Find any number in the disclosure package and run a 30-minute first pass | CHP.UN 2025 annual package on SEDAR+ |
| 2 | Rebuilding FFO and AFFO | Take a reconciliation apart line by line and restate it to REALPAC | CHP.UN Q1 2026 net-loss-to-FFO bridge |
| 3 | Units, Dilution, and Per-Unit Math | Build the right denominator and strip the exchangeable-unit distortion | CHP.UN 723.8M fully exchanged units |
| 4 | Interrogating Fair Value | Stress cap rates and build your own Real Estate NAV per unit | CHP.UN 6.04% weighted-average cap rate |
| 5 | Same-Property NOI | Audit the pool and decompose organic growth by sector | Illustrative SPNOI bridge, retail |
| 6 | Comparative Analysis (capstone) | Assemble a normalized peer comp table and decompose a valuation gap | CHP.UN / CRT.UN / FCR.UN retail comp |
Courses
Reading REIT Filings — A Field Guide to the Disclosure Package
Every document in a Canadian REIT's disclosure package and which numbers each one owns, how to pull filings from SEDAR+, a repeatable 30-minute first pass, and NI 52-112 as a non-GAAP quality screen.
Rebuilding FFO and AFFO from the Notes
Walk a real issuer's FFO and AFFO reconciliation line by line, size the AFFO wedge, classify REALPAC departures, and restate a divergent issuer onto a REALPAC-consistent basis so peers become comparable.
Units, Dilution, and Getting Per-Unit Math Right
Inventory every class of unit, apply IAS 32 to the denominator, keep numerator and denominator consistent, separate per-unit growth from dilution, and compute market cap, Reported NAV, and leverage without the exchangeable-unit distortion.
Interrogating Fair Value — Cap Rates, Sensitivity, and Real Estate NAV
Dissect the investment property note, run three staleness tests on disclosed cap rates, convert the sensitivity table into Reported NAV-per-unit risk with leverage amplification, and build your own Real Estate NAV and market-implied cap rate.
Same-Property NOI and the Operating Engine
Audit an issuer's same-property pool, read cash versus IFRS SPNOI, work the four operating dials (occupancy, spreads, retention, WALT), apply sector-specific standards, and decompose NOI growth into durable and one-off components.
Comparative Analysis — Building a Peer Comp Table
Assemble a defensible comp set, run the full normalization pass, build the ten-row comp table, and decompose a valuation gap into definition artifacts, structural discounts, and the residual that is the only part worth arguing about.