Total returns on the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index were -0.9% last week for the third consecutive weekly decline. Returns remained in positive territory for the year-to-date, however, with a 1.7% gain in 2021.
The pattern across property sectors continues to be a near-mirror image during the recovery from what happened during the pandemic market decline one year ago. Property sectors that had been most directly impacted by social distancing, including retail and lodging/resorts, have had double-digit returns in 2021 (retail edged higher last week, while lodging/resorts declined 2.7%). In contrast, the REIT sectors that support the digital economy—data centers, infrastructure, and industrial REITs—have all declined so far this year. This trend continued last week as the infrastructure sector had a negative return of -5.8%, and data centers had a -4.2% total return.
Both home financing mREITs and commercial financing mREITs were little changed last week, and remain up 4.4% and 8.1%, respectively, in 2021.
