In December 2025, the average short interest in U.S. equity real estate investment trusts (REITs) increased by 7 basis points from the previous month to 4.6 percent, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
At 6.7 percent of shares outstanding, the office sector saw the highest average short interest in December 2025, marking an increase of 107 basis points, month-over-month. Hotel REITs followed with 5.9 percent of shares outstanding, dropping 33 basis points from the previous month. Healthcare saw an average short interest of 5.6 percent of outstanding shares, marking an increase of 10 basis points from the prior month.
Timber REITs experienced the lowest average short interest, with an increase of 1 basis point from the prior month at 2.7 percent of shares outstanding. The highest decrease among the sectors was seen in the advertising sector, with a decline of 191 basis points and an average short interest of 3 percent of shares outstanding.
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