2026 Top 100 REITs Incentive Plan Design Practices Review

FW Cook’s inaugural 2026 Top 100 REITs Incentive Plan Design Practices Review examines executive annual and long-term incentive program design among the Top 100 publicly traded REITs. The report analyzes performance measures and weightings, payout ranges, long-term incentive grant vehicles and mix, TSR measurement approaches, performance periods, and time-based vesting practices, with analysis on industry trends over the years and comparisons to broader general industry practices.

The findings highlight a distinctive REIT compensation model: annual incentives emphasized core operating performance, and long-term incentive programs emphasized performance-based awards most commonly tied to shareholder returns.

Key findings from the study include the following:

• Annual incentive programs centered on operating performance. FFO was used by 73% of REITs, while 58% used other profit measures such as EBITDA, NOI, EPS, or FAD. Individual performance was incorporated by 61% of REITs, and approximately half used team-wide strategic or operational measures.
• REITs placed meaningful weight on non-financial performance—and structured it differently from general industry. Non-financial measures represented 26% of annual incentive weighting on average, versus 19% in general industry.  REITs overwhelmingly used individual and strategic performance as separately weighted components rather than as modifiers, which are more prevalent in general industry.
• LTI programs were highly concentrated around performance-based awards and restricted stock. These vehicles were used by 97% and 86% of REITs, respectively, and performance-based awards represented 65% of target LTI value on average.
• Stock options were rare among REITs. Only 2% granted stock options, compared with 38% of the Top 250 general industry companies—a notable distinction given the importance of dividends to REIT shareholder returns.
• Relative TSR was the defining performance measure in REIT LTI programs. Ninety-four percent of REITs used rTSR. Among REITs using rTSR, 90% employed it as a stand-alone metric, compared with 61% in general industry, where rTSR was more frequently used as a modifier to internal performance measures.
• Relative TSR measurement approaches varied. Fifty-eight percent compared performance against an index, 30% used a custom performance peer group, and 12% used both. Percentile ranking was the predominant measurement methodology.