There are some companies who just love borrowing money and buying stuff. I am wondering if this may be one of them.

That would be related to the general comment about Canadian REITs. Historically it's a business structure that is far more widely used than in other countries, for wildly varying types of businesses, nothing to do with real estate.

That doesn't say anything about the attractions of the actual real estate ones, just a general comment.

One thing that might apply across the board: a high yield in Canada is perhaps a stronger sign of a weak business than it is in some other countries. Canadian-source dividends are *extremely* well treated on Canadian personal income tax returns. Depending on the province you can make about $50-65k before paying a penny in income tax, provided you don't have any other type of income. This creates a lot of (disproportionate amount of) demand for local yielders among a certain population. Where there is demand for something somebody will promise to supply it, whether they can do so or not.

Jim