Listed Property Trust

Listed property trusts are traded on the stock exchange. This makes them very liquid (you can sell at any time), but subject to the influence of sentiment and other share market influences rather than property market influences. You also don't get much detail in relation to what the managers will invest in ... they don't need to tell you any more than the ASX insists they do.

Unlisted property trusts give you access to investments that aren't available through listed entities, and they generally invest in a clearly defined set of assets (ie one or several particular office buildings, or a particular class of property, or in a particular location). You get much more control by choosing which investment you want to invest in (eg a new office building in North Sydney, because you think there is growing demand for quality office space in that location). However, unlisted trusts are generally illiquid - you either don't get to sell at all until a defined time has passed (years), or you only get one or two opportunities per year to sell.

Listed trusts are generally more diversified, but that may also mean diworsified. Margin lenders will often lend against listed trusts, but rarely against unlisted trusts (due to the illiquidity).

I don't invest in either at the moment (although I'm about to get exposure to listed property trusts via a property securities fund), and I would prefer leverage to increase my returns, which excludes unlisted trusts - but at some point in the future I would like to investigate unlisted trusts too. I like the idea of being able to drive past an office block or a hospital or some other large building and claim "I own x% of that".