REITs fall 7.3% in February

REIT stocks took a tumble in February, falling 7.27 percent, according to the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index. In a difficult month for equities, the drop experienced by REITs was more severe than that experienced by the S&P 500 Index, which fell 3.89 percent in the month.

Equity markets have been responding to a variety of factors, including inflationary fears and the prospect of rising interest rates. Real estate stocks, in particular, have been affected by expectations the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates three or more times in the year ahead.

Every property subsector fell in February, and the worst performances were recorded by data center REITs (down 13.06 percent), hotel REITs (down 12.02 percent) and healthcare REITs (down 10.39 percent). The best performing sector was self-storage, which fell 0.77 percent in February.

In the first two months of the year, all equity REITs fell 10.00 percent, with the biggest losses felt by diversified (down