An examination of U.S. real estate investment trust (REIT) efficiency as a portfolio component from the perspective of all G-7 countries for the period 1985 through 1994 indicates that U.S. REITs offer both an inflation hedge and diversification. Nevertheless, including REITs in test portfolios did not yield statistically significant increases in risk-adjusted return over the period as a whole. Subperiod analyses indicated large temporal differences in REIT efficiency as a portfolio component.