Amidst down year, September shows improvement for U.S. equity REITs

U.S. equity REITs showed improvement in September. The FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index returned 3.43 percent in September, and the NAREIT index outperformed the S&P 500 Index’s return 2.97 percent. However, REITs have produced significantly lower returns than the broader equity market year-to-date, with the NAREIT index producing a return of 3.03 percent in the first nine months of the year, compared with the S&P 500’s return of 21.44 percent.

September was the first month to show a significant positive return for U.S. equity REITs since the April posting of 6.33 percent. April’s advance was followed by uninspiring returns leading up to an abysmal August that saw returns of –6.6 percent. The third quarter as a whole saw a –2.6 percent return.

The September recovery has been driven by a 7.13 percent return by industrial REITs and a 7.55 percent return by self-storage REITs. The lodging/resort sector also performed well,