“The near-term impact of the market turmoil is that we won’t see any significant equity issuance until the market stabilizes,” he said in a telephone interview.

REITs will be reluctant to take on debt as a replacement for stock sales because they won’t want to boost leverage and make themselves even less attractive to investors, said Craig Guttenplan, an analyst at CreditSights Inc. in London. Tapping into existing property would be a better source of new capital for the companies, he said.

“They’re not going to leverage themselves to the hilt,” Guttenplan said. “They’re going to look at asset sales.”

Single-tenant and health-care REITs have been among the most active issuers of equity this year. The sectors have been attractive to investors because of the stable cash flows offered by the long duration of their tenants’ leases, making them comparable to bonds.

Single Tenant

Since the slide in REIT shares began, the two groups have been hit harder than other types of landlords. The Bloomberg single-tenant index has dropped 19 percent since May 21, and the health-care REIT index has slumped 16 percent.

One of the biggest REIT buyouts completed this year was in the single-tenant industry, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Escondido, California-based Realty Income Corp., the largest landlord in the sector, purchased American Realty Capital Trust Inc. for about $2 billion excluding debt, in a deal completed in January.

Health Care REIT Inc., the third-largest REIT in its sector by market value, had the largest property-trust equity offering this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In May, it sold $1.5 billion in shares, excluding underwriter allotments, at $73.50 each to pay debt and for general purposes, including acquisitions. The Toledo, Ohio-based company also last month completed a $697 million investment in a joint venture to own a majority stake in 47 Canadian housing properties for the elderly.

On Sidelines

Such purchases may become less common now, said Paul Adornato, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets in New York.