Investing July 16, 2003

REITs Have Tepid June; Healthy First Half 2003

July 16, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Although the ardor for real estate investment trust (REIT) investments cooled a bit in June, REITs enjoyed a healthy second quarter - and more, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT).
Reported by

According to NAREIT’s ReitWatch for July, the group’s Composite REIT Index turned in a 2.6% return in June, down from May’s 6.12% advance. However, the index still enjoyed a 14.08% second-quarter performance, up substantially from the 0.83% gain in the January to March period.   On a year-to-date basis, the index gained 15.02%, up dramatically from the 5.22% return for the year 2002.

With historically low mortgage rates keeping refinancings red hot, it’s not surprising that NAREIT’s Mortgage REIT Index was similarly strong with a 6.46% June gain, a tad higher than May’s 6.36% performance. The index reported a 25.9% second-quarter advance (well ahead of Q1’s measly 2.84% rise), as well as a similarly whopping 29.47% year-to-date gain.

NAREIT’s equity REIT index turned in a not-very-special 2.18% performance in June, but did somewhat better with a 13.11% second quarter and a 13.87 year-to-date.

The report is at http://www.nareit.com/researchandstatistics/reitwatch/RW0307.pdf .

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