There is no industry standard for classifying property and sub-property types. The two leading organizations in the US real estate investment industry – the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) – categorize real estate differently.
Real estate is heterogeneous in that no two properties are identical or fungible – freely interchangeable for another of like nature or kind – nor do real estate assets correlate to any other asset classes. Indeed, the difference in properties and classification systems makes it difficult to compare real estate markets and data.
The classification of real estate is chiefly determined by its use as either residential or commercial. Whereas residential real estate is generally simply classified as either single-family or multi-family dwelling, commercial real estate can be classified in a multitude of ways, according to its purpose, the quality of space, nature of property, investment purpose, its current life-cycle phase or purpose of its financing.