Investors typically choose between growth and scarcity.
Growth investors chase the technological frontier through areas like artificial intelligence, software, and semiconductors. Others prefer hard assets such as gold, silver, oil, real estate, timber, and critical minerals.
Take the 1970s. Inflation was surging, economic growth slowed, government deficits expanded, and confidence in paper currencies weakened. Investors gravitated toward tangible assets. Gold, silver, oil, farmland, and collectibles thrived while stocks largely struggled.
The 1990s, particularly the second half of the decade, were the exact opposite.
Investors wanted internet stocks, software companies, telecom firms, and anything tied to innovation. If an investment was not connected to growth, few people cared. Gold spent much of that period out of favor.
Today, however, investors seem to want elements of both eras simultaneously.
They want:
- Gold and Bitcoin.
- Silver and AI infrastructure.
- Energy and semiconductors.
- Hard assets and digital assets.
They want exposure to the wealth-creating potential of AI while also owning scarce assets such as gold, silver, energy, land, timber, and critical minerals. Timberland is particularly interesting because it combines two forms of scarcity: productive land and the natural resources growing on it.
Two timber REITs worth researching are Rayonier and Weyerhaeuser.
Land Play No. 1: Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN)
Perhaps the biggest attraction is that Rayonier owns something that cannot easily be replicated. New technologies can be created, new factories can be built, and more capital can be raised. Productive timberland, however, is a finite resource. For investors who like the idea of owning scarce assets, Rayonier offers exposure to millions of acres that can generate income today while potentially becoming more valuable over time.
More specifically, the Florida-based company owns and manages more than four million acres of timberland across the U.S. South and Pacific Northwest. Beyond timber production, Rayonier creates value through land sales and development opportunities.
Trading at roughly $21.50 per share as of this writing, the stock price is essentially flat in 2026. However, Rayonier offers a dividend yield of 4.8%, and that payout remains well covered by cash flow. Management has also been aggressively repurchasing stock, including approximately $163 million of buybacks through the first nine months of the year, while recently authorizing an additional $300 million repurchase program.
Land Play No. 2: Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY)
Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest timberland owners in the United States, controlling roughly 10.4 million acres. Unlike Rayonier, Weyerhaeuser has much greater exposure to lumber and engineered wood products manufacturing, making its earnings more sensitive to housing construction and lumber price cycles.
Shares currently trade well below their recent highs. However, analysts are upbeat about the company. While the stock price currently sits at $20.65, the average analyst target tracked by The Wall Street Journal is $26.64, with the highest being $34 and the lowest being $23, all well above today’s price. In addition, Weyerhaeuser’s dividend yields 4%.
Even though both companies operate somewhat differently, each offers exposure to several themes many investors are seeking today:
• Real estate through millions of acres of land ownership.
• Commodity exposure through timber and wood products.
• Inflation protection through hard assets.
• Potential upside from housing, construction, and long-term development demand.
A simple way to think about the timber business is through the lifecycle of a tree: grow it, harvest it, process it, and build with it. Rayonier is primarily focused on the first two stages, making it a more pure-play timberland investment. Weyerhaeuser extends further down the value chain through lumber and wood products manufacturing, giving it greater exposure to housing demand and lumber prices.
For investors looking to balance high growth technology investments with tangible assets, both offer a way to own something that is becoming increasingly scarce: productive land.
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byUnited States Gold Bureau