REITs Outperform S&P 500 in 1st Half

Equity real estate investment trusts outperformed the S&P 500 index for the first six months of the year, according to data compiled by SNL Financial.While equity REITs provided a total return of 14.4% for the period, the S&P 500 recorded an 11.8% total return, the Charlottesville, Va.-based information provider reported. However, taking into account performance for the second quarter alone, the S&P 500 index came out ahead, with a total return of 15.4%, compared with 13.1% for the equity REIT sector. Both indexes outperformed their year-ago total returns, SNL said. Among the various REIT sectors, manufactured housing posted a total return of 27.4%; health care, 26.5%; hotel, negative-2.1%; office, 13.3%; retail, 11.6%; multifamily, 9.9%; and industrial, 8.5%. For the second quarter alone, the hotel sector provided a strong 19.7% return, indicating a turnaround in that sector. SNL can be found online at http://www.snl.com.