How much real estate should you have in a balanced portfolio? By Jonathan Chevreau on May 5, 2021 REITs and REIT ETFs offer exposure to residential or commercial real estate, without the hassle of being a landlord. But how safe will they be in a post-COVID world? Advertisement Photo by energepic.com from Pexels When investors talk about income-producing assets, the first that come to mind are dividends and interest, with capital gains a close third. But what about investment real estate? If you hold an asset allocation ETF, it will be chock full of stocks and bonds but offer little real estate exposure apart from a few publicly traded real estate firms.