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REIT diversification benefits come not merely from their low correlations to other assets but also from their historically strong risk-adjusted returns. 

REIT returns generally have low correlations with returns from the broad stock market.  Some REIT property sectors—including Health Care, Self Storage, Residential, Infrastructure, and Data Centers—seem to be especially defensive with average correlations of 65 percent or less even during periods encompassing market crises.

 An increase in interest rates might be cause for concern if it were predicted to come with no accompanying increase in net operating income—but it’s those changes in net operating income, not the interest rates themselves, that should attract the closest attention of investors in any equity asset such as real estate.

Individual investors represent a core component of the REIT investment universe. Whether investing in individual companies, through a REIT mutual fund or exchange-traded fund or through a retirement plan, an increasing number of individuals have recognized the benefits of including a REIT allocation in their investment portfolios.

It should come as no surprise that the top-performing sector of the REIT market varies through time, suggesting that most investors will want to maintain exposure to every part of the real estate asset class.

It is often said that “correlations spike to one during a crisis,” but REIT-stock correlations have actually been lower during the worst stock market downturns in history, reinforcing the case for REITs as a portfolio diversifier even during crises.

Over the first six months of 2017 the broad U.S. stock market had outperformed the REIT market, with the Russell 3000 Index showing total returns of 8.93% compared to just 5.43% for the FTSE NAREIT All REIT Index.  Dig just a little deeper, though, and this turns out not to be a “stocks vs REITs” story at all.

Here’s the myth: an increase in interest rates is bad for real estate investors.  Here’s the empirical fact: the historical evidence shows that real estate investors—at least those who invest through exchange-traded REITs—have usually done better during rising-rate environments than when interest rates were declining.

Real estate markets softened in the first quarter, with the demand for leased space slowing for most major property types. Demand did not fall but the weakness may reflect a cautious environment during the winter months.

With everyday life upended by the coronavirus for the foreseeable future, the commercial real estate industry is shifting on a daily basis.

REITs have provided that diversification benefit because their underlying returns are driven by the real estate market cycle, which is very different from the business cycle that drives the returns of most other companies in the stock market.

Will the gap be closed through underperformance in what may be an overvalued private real estate market, overperformance in what seems very clearly to be an undervalued listed REIT market, or a little of both?

Value-oriented and momentum-oriented investors look to take advantage of different opportunities: value investors look for stocks selling well below normal, while momentum investors look for stocks that have done well recently.  Both opportunities can be found today among sectors of the REIT market.

Appraisal-based valuations in private real estate markets are being systematically reported at levels that exceed those of reported transactions—in which case there may be more valuation risk in private equity real estate markets than many institutional investors realize.

The commercial real estate (CRE) mortgage market has changed dramatically since the end of 2021. For many real estate investors, gone are the days of low-cost, readily available property financing.