REITs continued to attract yield-seeking investors in the first half of the year. The FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index provided a dividend yield of 3.97 percent on June 30. The FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index provided a dividend yield of 3.59 percent, and the FTSENAREIT Mortgage REITs Index’s dividend yield was 10.87 percent. In comparison, the dividend yield of the S&P 500 was 2.17 percent.
Among Equity REIT property segments, the highest yield on June 30 was the 5.61 percent provided by the Lodging/Resorts sector. The dividend yield of the Specialty sector was 5.50 percent, Health Care REITs yielded 5.14 percent, Diversified REITs yielded 4.27 percent, Timber REITs yielded 4.14 percent, and Free Standing Retail REITs yielded 3.81 percent.