Is it Ambank REIT your friend refering to ?

REIT concept is similar to mutual funds, except it pools the investors money to invest in real estate. These REITs purchase a neighborhood instead of a unit of house here and there like individual investors do. If we look at the historial data, stock market offers better return than property market over time (and of course stocks bear higher risk).

If you are looking for a conservative->moderate investment with fixed income over time, REIT could be suitable for your portfolio.

FYI, Public Mutual is going to launch a Far East Property Fund on July 10th. If anyone is interested to learn more about it, can pm me.