By Craig Karmin | The Wall Street Journal
Individual investors increasingly are turning to real estate in search of higher returns, and few in the industry have capitalized on this trend more than Nicholas Schorsch.
The 52-year old chief executive’s American Realty Capital has emerged as the dominant money-raiser in the rapidly rising nontraded real-estate-investment-trust industry. These property funds are marketed as shares by brokers to financial advisers, rather than traded on an exchange as public REITs.
The New York-based firm’s nine unlisted REITs took in $3.6 billion during the first six months of the year—nearly half the total funds raised by the industry, according to Robert A. Stanger & Co., an investment bank that tracks nontraded REITs. Last year, Mr. Schorsch’s nontraded REITs raised $2.6 billion, also tops in the industry.
