Veteran REIT funds are losing influence over the market as passive indexes begin to attract more money and a wider array of investors.

While core REIT investors used to be able to impact important decisions about how companies are run and alter the path of initial public offerings, those days are over, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The market is shifting, and while REITs have grown more popular with broader investors, that popularity has attracted newcomers and a pending move to implement a separate real estate sector in the stock market.

Maybe the most extreme example of the trend is Fundrise's crowdfunded "eREIT." Though not publicly traded, the eREIT takes cash from investors with just $1k—and it sells out within minutes of opening.

Despite the changes, REITs aren't going anywhere as they're larger than ever—late last year the market value of publicly traded US REITs was $875B, up from $350B in 2006. [WSJ]