One non-traded REIT paid every redemption in May. Another will only let you out if you die.

Same legal structure. Same six weeks of 2026. Opposite doors. That contrast is the whole lesson of the non-traded NAV REIT.

April vs May, two sponsors

Starwood SREIT (April 2026): after a $112.9 million quarterly net loss and roughly $4 billion in near-term debt coming due, the board suspended almost all redemptions. As of April it will repurchase shares in only two cases — death or qualifying disability of the holder (capped at $5M/month), or accounts under $5,000 (a separate $5M/month cap). Everyone else is locked in. The distribution got cut, too.

Ares AREIT (May 2026): aggregate NAV rose to $3.455B from $3.409B, NAV per interest ticked up to $8.19 — and it satisfied every redemption request in full.

Why it matters

In a non-traded NAV REIT, "you can redeem up to 2% a month" is not a right. It's a privilege the sponsor extends while the portfolio is healthy — and revokes precisely when you'd most want out. The hinge is the debt-maturity wall and the asset quality under it. Starwood's wall arrived; Ares had cut office to 5% and re-covered its distribution. Same structure, two balance sheets, two doors.

The publicly-traded version of this real estate never gates you — it just prices the risk in front of you every second (a median 16.2% discount to NAV as of January). You can always sell. You might not love the number, but the door is never locked.

The question isn't "what's the redemption cap?" It's "what's the debt-maturity schedule — and would this sponsor still honor the cap in a bad quarter?"

Read the full breakdown → non-traded vs publicly-traded REITs

— Jorge