REITs rise 4% in February

U.S. equity REITs bounced back in February after a lackluster January, returning 4.01 percent in the month, according to the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index. Year-to-date, equity REITs have a total return of 4.19 percent. In 2016, the sector had a total return of 8.63 percent.

The strongest performance in February was by infrastructure REITs, up 9.01 percent. The segment includes key players in the cellular tower industry, including American Tower Corp., Crown Castle International Corp. and SBA Communications Corp., which represent approximately 90 percent of the subsector by equity market capitalization.

Single-family home REITs also had a strong February, returning