In the global real estate space covered by SNL, discount to NAV decreased month over month in October, moving 2.7 percentage points to a discount of 8.2% at the end of October.

Swedish real estate companies led global NAV premiums, with a 12.1% premium to NAV as of Oct. 29, a 5.1-percentage-point decrease from September. Belgian real estate companies also ended October at a premium to NAV, at 11.1%, a 5.9-percentage-point increase from the end of September.

Canadian real estate companies ended October trading at an 8.4% premium to NAV, the same premium they were trading at the end of September.

Denmark was trading at the largest discount to NAV at 71.1%, and Greece followed with a 64.3% discount to NAV. Both countries traded at the largest discounts to NAV in August and September as well.

North America was the only SNL-covered region trading at a premium to NAV, with a median premium of 5.0% as of Oct. 29. Asia-Pacific countries continued to trade at a discount to NAV, with a discount of 21.2%. European countries had the largest median discount to NAV at 22.4%.

Looking specifically at the U.S., REITs were trading at a 5.7% premium to NAV as of Oct. 29, up 4.7 percentage points from September's premium. To add perspective, the median U.S. REIT premium has decreased 5.5 percentage points from 11.2% as of Dec. 31, 2009. Based on the SNL U.S. REIT Equity index, equity prices have risen 21.6% year-to-date and have experienced a one-year price change of 36.0% as of Oct. 29.

Health care REITs are still trading at the highest premium to NAV among U.S. REITs, with a premium of 44.7% as of Oct. 29, up 11.1 percentage points from September's premium. Specialty REITs had the largest month-over-month decrease, with a 2.5-percentage-point drop to a 1.6% discount to NAV at the end of October. Specialty REITs are now the only sector trading at a discount to NAV, trailing the REIT median by 7.3 percentage points.