How DSTs Can Complement a Traditional Real Estate Portfolio

Most experienced real estate owners do not struggle with acquiring property. They struggle with concentration, management burden, and timing decisions as portfolios mature.

Delaware Statutory Trusts (DSTs) are often misunderstood as a replacement for direct ownership. In practice, they are more commonly used as a complement. When used thoughtfully, they can address specific portfolio gaps without displacing core holdings.

In most cases, DSTs tend to work best when they solve a specific portfolio gap upon conducting a 1031 exchange, or when an investor is looking to change an active-management lifestyle.”

This article explains how DSTs can complement a traditional real estate portfolio, when they are most useful, and where their limitations should be clearly understood.

What a Traditional Real Estate Portfolio Often Looks Like

Most long-term real estate portfolios evolve in a predictable way.

Common characteristics

• Concentration in one or two asset types
• Geographic clustering
• Increasing management complexity over time
• Growing exposure to tenant or market-specific risk

These traits are not mistakes. They are often the result of successful execution over many years.

DSTs provide access to institutional-scale real estate through a passive ownership structure. Investors do not manage the asset and do not make operational decisions.

What they can introduce

• Passive income streams
• Exposure to new markets or property types
• Larger, professionally managed assets
• Reduced day-to-day involvement

The value is not higher returns. The value is diversification and simplification.

DSTs are most effective when they are used to offset specific risks already present in a portfolio.

Typical use cases

• Reducing geographic concentration
• Adding exposure to larger assets that would be impractical to own directly
• Converting active management into passive income
• Creating income stability alongside higher-volatility holdings

They often serve as a counterbalance rather than a core driver.

DSTs are frequently used as part of a 1031 exchange, particularly when reinvesting sale proceeds from actively managed properties.

Why this matters

• They can help meet exchange timelines
• They allow proceeds to remain fully invested
• They can reduce pressure to acquire another hands-on property

This flexibility is often more important than yield or appreciation projections.

DSTs involve clear trade-offs that should be acknowledged upfront.

Key considerations

• Investors give up operational control
• Liquidity is limited
• Exit timing is determined by the sponsor

These constraints are not flaws. They are structural features that must align with investor expectations.

Direct ownership and DSTs serve different roles within a portfolio.

Simplified comparison

• Direct ownership offers control and flexibility
• DSTs offer scale and passivity
• Direct ownership concentrates decision-making
• DSTs outsource execution to sponsors

Understanding these differences prevents misalignment.

DSTs tend to disappoint when they are used for the wrong reasons.

Frequent mistakes

• Using DSTs to chase yield
• Expecting liquidity similar to public markets
• Treating all DST sponsors as interchangeable

DSTs are most effective when they are positioned deliberately, not opportunistically.”

DSTs should be evaluated in the context of the entire balance sheet, not as isolated investments.

Key questions

• Where is my portfolio concentrated today
• How much active management do I want long term
• What role should income stability play
• How does this align with future liquidity events

The answers to these questions matter more than the specific offering.

DSTs are not designed to replace traditional real estate ownership. They are designed to complement it.

When used intentionally, they can reduce concentration risk, simplify management, and add scale to a portfolio that has grown organically over time. When used without context, they often create frustration.

A structured planning discussion can help determine whether DSTs support broader portfolio objectives or whether direct ownership remains the better tool for the next phase of ownership.

General Disclosure