U.S. REITs advanced 6.5 percent in March, as tracked by the FTSE Nareit Equity REITs Index, after declining in January and February, and achieved a quarterly return of approximately –3.9 percent. The S&P 500 Index advanced 3.7 percent in March.
The best-performing sectors in March were healthcare (11.7 percent), infrastructure (11.5 percent), self-storage (10.1 percent) and industrial (9.6 percent). The highest returns in the first quarter were achieved by hotel REITs (6.9 percent), healthcare REITs (5.2 percent) and office REITs (2.8 percent).
Regional mall REITs reported the worst performance in the past month, with a return of –2.8 percent in March. Regional malls also had the worst year-to-date returns, at –16.1 percent since the beginning of the year. Although malls have struggled amid the pandemic, a recent report from Placer.ai asserts malls continue to hold an important place in
