Understanding DSTs

A Delaware Statu­to­ry Trust (DST) is a legal struc­ture that can hold title to one or more real estate prop­er­ties while allow­ing mul­ti­ple investors to own ben­e­fi­cial inter­ests in the trust.

Prop­er­ly struc­tured DST inter­ests may be con­sid­ered by investors seek­ing pas­sive real estate own­er­ship and, in cer­tain cir­cum­stances, as replace­ment real prop­er­ty in a Sec­tion 1031 exchange.

A DST is an own­er­ship struc­ture — not an asset class. The invest­ment should be eval­u­at­ed based on the under­ly­ing prop­er­ty, spon­sor, ten­ants, financ­ing, acqui­si­tion price, fees, risks, and exit strat­e­gy.

Key Point: Eval­u­ate the real estate invest­ment first and the tax-defer­ral oppor­tu­ni­ty sec­ond.

Relat­ed DSTNews.org Arti­cles

• Intro­duc­tion to Delaware Statu­to­ry Trusts (DSTs): Explor­ing the Basics and Pur­pose

• Under­stand­ing DST Risk: What Investors Must Know

Edu­ca­tion­al use only. This mate­r­i­al is not tax, legal, account­ing, or invest­ment advice. Pri­vate real estate invest­ments involve risk, includ­ing pos­si­ble loss of prin­ci­pal and illiq­uid­i­ty.

This website is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any security which can be made only by a prospectus, or offering memorandum, which has been filed or registered with the appropriate state and federal regulatory agencies, and offered only by broker dealers and registered investment advisors authorized to do so. The information found on this website is a summary of general information intended for training and education of accredited investors, only, who are conducting research on DST type investments and or a 1031 Exchange. Any offer of securities is qualified in its entirety by its own offering documents. A prospectus or offering memorandum must be preceded or accompanied by any offer of sale and read in conjunction with the offering documents in order to understand fully all the implications and risks of an offering to which it relates. Terminology such as "we", "us" and "our" is used as defined in the offering documents and does not imply DST News viewpoint. On a non-subscription fee basis, DST News provides informational resources and training to accredited investors regarding DST type investment products and offerings. DST News is not affiliated with any sponsor of such investments but may be associated with the offer or sale of such investments. This website’s information above does not constitute any offer to sell any securities or represent an express or implied opinion on or endorsement of any specific investment opportunity, offering, issuer or sponsor. Copyright DST News © 2026. All Rights Reserved.