REITs return 9.9% in December, 13.7% in 2023

U.S. REITs recorded a strong performance in December, up 9.9 percent, with most property types in positive territory, according to the FTSE Nareit Equity REITs Index. For the year, equity REITs were up 13.7 percent amid a strong year for equities. The S&P 500 Index was up 26.3 percent in 2023, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.2 percent.

“Overall market sentiment improved drastically in specifically the last two months of the calendar year,” noted Global Property Research’s December 2023 Market Update. The improvement was driven by “optimism that the Fed would be able to engineer a soft landing.”

The best performance in December was recorded by the self-storage sector, up 21.1 percent. Other strong performances in December were office (up 19.6 percent), regional malls (up 16.8 percent), industrial (up 15.1 percent), hotels (up 11.9 percent) and apartments (up 11.0 percent).

In merger news, the shareholders of RPT Realty approved the ac