U.S. REITs kicked off 2024 in the red, falling 4.2 percent, according to the FTSE Nareit Equity REITs Index. Equity REITs continue to lag the broader equity markets, as the S&P 500 Index was up 1.7 percent in January. In 2023, REITs advanced 13.7 percent with a strong fourth quarter.
The only bright spot for performance in January was the data centers sector, up 3.5 percent. Continued excitement around artificial intelligence and other technologies has provided a strong support to the sector.
The biggest drop, according to Nareit, was recorded by the telecommunications sector, which fell 8.8 percent, followed by self-storage REITs, which declined 8.2 percent. Other decreases were seen in the healthcare (–6.3 percent), diversified (–5.9 percent), office (–5.4 percent) and industrial (–5.2 percent) segments.
In REIT company news, American Healthcare REIT has plans to hold an