U.S. REIT returns were 0.64 percent for the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index in August, following a return of 1.3 percent in July. Year-to-date, the index is up 6.9 percent.

REITs’ performance in the past month was slightly better than the virtually flat 0.05 percent return recorded by the S&P 500 Index. But while the broad equity market returns might look like August doldrums, the flattened monthly performance masked an increase in volatility.

Infrastructure was the best-performing sector in August, advancing 7.46 percent; year-to-date the sector is up 34.07 percent. Though a relatively new sector within the NAREIT indexes, having been added as a breakout group in 2012, infrastructure REITs have been growing to represent one of the largest groupings by equity market capitalization. The six infrastructure REITs in the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index have a combined equity market cap of nearly $130 billion, and the two largest infrastructure REITs — America