REITs Lose 1.9% in March

April 1,2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) fell 1.9% on a total return basis in March, according to the NAREIT Composite Index.

So far in 2005 the real estate investments have fallen 7.6% on average, well below the compound annual return of 13.8% over the last ten years in such investments. The average dividend yield over the same time period is 5.5% for all publicly traded REITs.

The best performing sector on the month was Self Storage, with a 0.8% gain in March. The worst performing sector in march was Home Financing, which lost 14.7%.

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These figures are in sharp contrast to those seen in 2004, when REITs performed tremendously, bringing in average returns of 30.4% (See REITs Produce Stellar Returns in 2004 ).

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