REITs Fall Behind Other Equity Investments

Real estate investment trusts have fallen behind other equity market benchmarks for the first half of 2007, following years of continued outperformance.The FTSE NAREIT All REIT Index turned in a total return of negative-6.96% for the first half, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. The Washington-based REIT industry trade group reported that this compares with a return of 6.90% on the S&P 500 for the first half, 7.59% on the Dow Jones Industrials, and 7.78% on the NASDAQ. Taking into account only mortgage REITs, total return for the first half of 2007 was even worse, at negative-19.97% (with the home financing sector turning in a return of negative-20.86%, and the commercial financing sector at negative-18.03%). NAREIT can be found online at http://www.nareit.com.