Preferred Equity Investments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Preferred Equity Investments, Common Shares and Common Share Options [Abstract]

Preferred Equity Investments

7. Preferred Equity Investments

During 2011 the Trust made a $1,500,000 loan to its Vintage Housing venture to be used to acquire the general partnership interest in a new housing project currently under construction. The Trust receives a priority on the cash flow from the new project. The loan bears interest at 12% with no payments due until there is operating cash flow from the property. Income will be recognized on a cash basis and no income was recognized in 2011.

The Trust recognized earnings from its Marc Realty preferred equity investments of $338,000 for each of the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2009, the Trust recognized a loss from preferred equity investments of $2,108,000 which included an impairment loss of $4,850,000. These results reflect the effects of the restructuring of the preferred equity investment with Marc Realty in July 2009. Effective with the third quarter of 2009, 12 of the investments with Marc Realty were deemed to be equity investments for which the Trust began recognizing its pro-rata share of income or loss subsequent to June 30, 2009. Prior to June 30, 2009, the Trust accounted for these 12 investments as preferred equity investments.