These top REITs offer income and growth

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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $25.83 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 304.6 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.6%; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 233 shopping centres and other properties across Canada. They include 16 projects now under development. In all, the REIT controls 38.7 million square feet of rentable space. Its overall occupancy rate is a high 97.1%. The trust continues to make progress with its plan to focus on six major urban markets: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. As part of that strategy, it plans to sell 100 properties for $2.0 billion. So far, RioCan has sold 65 of its less-important properties. It expects those six cities to supply 90% of its rental revenue by the time the plan is completed this year. Due to property sales, in the quarter ended December 31, 2018, overall revenue fell 4.9%, to $278.7 million from $293.2 million. As well, cash flow fell 4.0%, to $138.4 million from $144.2…