A free REIT valuation model template in Excel, with a complete worked case
Funds from operations, the adjusted measure, net asset value and the implied cap rate, leverage and the dividend: nine linked sheets, one fictional REIT, no macros.
The file walks one REIT from its filings to a recommendation. Meridian Industrial Trust trades at $34.50 a share against a net asset value of $42.97, a 19.7% discount. Funds from operations run $2.878 a share and the adjusted measure $2.117. The implied cap rate, the number the share price actually pays for the buildings, is 6.21%, 96 basis points wider than the 5.25% cap rate transaction evidence supports, so the public market is not paying full price for the real estate even at that discount. Net debt sits at 4.76 times EBITDA and the dividend absorbs 81.3% of adjusted funds from operations. Every one of those numbers is a formula you can move.
Download the templates
Two Excel files, no macros, nothing locked. No account, no email address.
The worked case reproduces the book’s full analysis of Meridian Industrial Trust. Inputs are blue type; everything else is a formula.
Summary
The ten headline outputs, each checked against the book, and the recommendation in one line.
Assumptions
Every input in one place: share count and price, the income statement, the adjusted funds from operations bridge, and the portfolio.
FFO and AFFO
Funds from operations built from net income, then the five adjustments down to adjusted funds from operations.
NAV
Net asset value at the supplied cap rate, and the implied cap rate the current share price pays for the same buildings.
Balance Sheet
Net debt to EBITDA, interest coverage, overhead capitalized at the cap rate, and the dividend’s payout on both measures.
Capital
The cost of equity, whether issuing shares to acquire is accretive, the development pipeline’s value creation, and the base case total return.
Sensitivity
Net asset value across a half-point band of cap rates, and accretion tested at three share prices.
Checks
Every figure the book prints set against what the model computes, with a verdict on each line.
The template carries the same architecture, four sheets (Read Me, Inputs, Analysis, Checks), with every company figure emptied and a worked example alongside, ready for a REIT of your own.
What the worked case returns
Measure
Value
Share price
$34.50
Funds from operations per share
$2.878
Adjusted funds from operations per share
$2.117
Net asset value per share
$42.97
Discount to net asset value
19.7%
Implied cap rate
6.21%
Spread to transaction evidence
96 bp
Net debt / EBITDA
4.76x
Payout on adjusted funds from operations
81.3%
Read the net asset value and the implied cap rate side by side, not as two attempts at the same number. Net asset value answers what the portfolio is worth at the cap rate transaction evidence supports; the implied cap rate answers what the share price is actually paying for the same buildings, and the two move independently because the public market prices the whole company, not just its real estate. Here they disagree by 96 basis points even while shares sit at a 19.7% discount to net asset value. Leverage is conservative at 4.76 times EBITDA, so the discount is not a solvency story, and issuing equity to acquire at this share price is dilutive: growth has to come from the portfolio already owned, not from buying more of it at today’s price.
How to use it on your own deal
Open Inputs on the template, or Assumptions on the worked case, and overwrite the blue cells: share count and price, the income statement, the balance sheet, and the cap rate.
Get the cap rate right before anything else. It has to come from comparable transactions, not a stock screen: it is the one assumption net asset value carries on its shoulders.
Read net asset value and the implied cap rate together. Net asset value follows your cap rate; the implied cap rate follows the share price. A gap between them is a finding, not an error to fix.
Check Capital before trusting the growth story. A REIT that cannot issue equity accretively at its own share price can only grow from what it already owns.
Keep the Checks sheet on the worked case as a template for your own tie-outs; the template’s Checks sheet does the same job on a blank company.
Questions people ask about it
Is this REIT valuation model really free?
Yes. Both files, the worked case and the blank template, are companion files to a book. There is no sign-up, no email address and no paid version.
Does it use macros or circular references?
No macros and no circular reference: net asset value is computed from the cap rate you type in, and the implied cap rate is computed from the share price, and neither feeds back into the other. The files recalculate in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets without iterative calculation.
Why are there two different cap rates?
Net asset value uses the cap rate you supply, sourced from comparable transactions. The implied cap rate works backwards from the share price: market capitalization plus debt, preferred equity and other liabilities, less cash and other assets, divided into the stabilized net operating income. The two agree only when the share price already equals net asset value, and the gap between them is usually the more useful number.
Can I use it for a real REIT?
You can reuse the structure and the formulas. Meridian Industrial Trust and every figure in the worked case are fictional, and nothing here is investment advice.
The rest of the files
These two workbooks are part of the companion files for REIT Analysis and Valuation: the full set adds two timed practice cases, a 54-item analysis checklist, a three-year run of the price–NAV feedback loop, forty self-marking questions and three unworked cases, plus thirteen printable working documents. Free, like these.