Listed real estate bounces back in April

REITs participated in the stock market recovery last month, as the FTSE Nareit Equity REITs Index rose 8.3 percent during April. Year-to-date, however, REITs are down 21.3 percent, as measured by the same index. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index rose 12.7 percent in April.

Equity markets, which plummeted as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 was labeled a pandemic earlier this year, have been staging a recovery in recent weeks.

Some property types performed better than others in April, as some of the hardest-hit sectors found their way back from earlier lows. Regional mall REITs, for example, rose 20.0 percent in April, but the subsector remains down 52.5 percent year-to-date. In similar fashion, lodging and resort REITs rose 11.3 percent in April; year-to-date, the hotel sector is down 45.8 percent.

Year-to-date, the two best-performing REIT sectors are those that operate without people onsite — data centers, up 17.7 percent, and infras