A strong management team and sound investment process underpin Dimensional US Real Estate ETF's Morningstar Medalist Rating of Gold. The portfolio maintains a cost advantage over competitors, priced within the least expensive fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy merits an Above Average Process Pillar rating.  The strategy's parent organization earns the firm a High Parent Pillar rating. People, Process and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

Prologis

Equinix

American Tower

Welltower

Simon Property Group

Realty Income Corp

Digital Realty Trust

Crown Castle International

Public Storage

Vici Properties

Dimensional Real Estate Securities combines the best active and passive features in one portfolio. It doesn’t track an index but confers traditional index-fund benefits: solid diversification, low turnover, and a cap-weighted portfolio that embodies the market’s collective wisdom. The fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.

Note: The Process Pillar rating and analysis are indirectly assigned by an analyst. When an analyst covers a vehicle that follows a given strategy (as codified by Morningstar’s StrategyID data point) Morningstar maps the covered vehicle’s Process Pillar to any other uncovered vehicles that follow the same strategy (that is, share the same StrategyID). This ensures that the analyst’s view is leveraged whenever available and promotes consistency when assigning Process Pillar ratings to vehicles that follow the same strategy.

Above Average

Process

Dimensional’s focus on minimizing transaction costs and global trading capabilities lead to an Above Average People Pillar rating. 

Dimensional focuses on keeping trading costs to a minimum. Since the fund doesn’t track an index, the portfolio managers can be patient, waiting for chances to trade that minimize market impact. Stocks can temporarily drift from their market-cap weights as a result, but these deviations are brief and very small. Dimensional grades portfolio manager performance by cost reduction and how well the fund meets expectations, aligning manager and investor interests. Philosophically, this is the same as measuring passive management by how well the fund tracks the index.

This strategy prospectus names three portfolio managers, but their role is mostly one of oversight. The team that manages the fund day to day is unnamed but experienced and well-resourced. It monitors opportune times to trade and then routes orders to a global trading desk for execution. Dimensional takes a team-based approach to portfolio management; investment personnel may rotate strategies from time to time to expand their expertise.

Note: The People Pillar rating and analysis are indirectly assigned by an analyst. When an analyst covers a vehicle that follows a given strategy (as codified by Morningstar’s StrategyID data point), Morningstar maps the covered vehicle’s People Pillar ratings to any other uncovered vehicles that follow the same strategy (that is, share the same StrategyID). This ensures that the analyst’s view is leveraged whenever available and promotes consistency when assigning People Pillar ratings to vehicles that follow the same strategy.

People

Dimensional’s mutual fund business has faced some tough challenges over the past few years. Despite large and persistent outflows, the firm has remained steadfast in its philosophy and responded in a way that benefits clients while improving its competitiveness. Dimensional maintains its High Parent Pillar rating.

More than $80 billion left Dimensional’s mutual funds between 2020 and 2022, but its response to the turmoil has been admirable. The firm started reducing fees in early 2020, and it continued the effort with three additional rounds of cuts.

Dimensional’s endeavor into exchange-traded funds was the biggest step it took to shore up its business. The firm converted seven tax-managed mutual funds to ETFs between mid-2021 and mid-2022. Along the way, it launched an additional two dozen that largely follow the same strategies underpinning the existing mutual funds. The firm also reinvested in its separate accounts platform by bolstering the technology used to manage these portfolios. The effort was aimed at improving operational efficiencies.

These measures appear to be paying off. The firm’s new ETFs have proved popular among its clients. In 2022, they brought in enough new money to nearly offset the outflows from its mutual funds. The separate account platform’s operational improvements, along with the new ETF lineup’s tax efficiency, should benefit clients and strengthen the firm’s prospects.

High

Parent

Dimensional US Real Estate ETF

DFAR is actively managed to invest in US companies whose principal activities are engaged in the broad real estate sector, including REITs. Portfolio holdings are weighted by market capitalization.

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Columbia Research Enhanced Real Estate ETF

CareTrust REIT

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

iShares Environmentally Aware Real Estate ETF

Fidelity MSCI Real Estate ETF

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund

Franklin Street Properties Corp.

Generation Income Properties

Goldman Sachs Future Real Estate And Infrastructure Equity ETF

Home Appreciation US REIT ETF

Hudson Pacific Properties

iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF

Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF

InvenTrust Properties Corp

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF

JPMorgan Realty Income ETF

Janus Henderson U.S. Real Estate ETF

Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF

NETLease Corporate Real Estate ETF

Nuveen Short-Term REIT ETF

OUTFRONT Media

REITs bounced back from a rough start to the year with a strong +3.26% average total return in March. Mid cap (+5.04%), small cap (+3.90%) and large cap REITs (+2.32%) averaged gains in March, while micro caps (-0.32%) saw yet another month in the red. 78.06% of REIT securities had a positive total return in March.

The State Of REITs: April 2024 Edition

American Homes 4 Rent

Brandywine Realty

Chatham Lodging Trust

Healthpeak Properties Inc

EPR Properties

Iron Mountain

Medical Properties Trust

REITs fell slightly deeper into the red in 2024 with a -0.81% total return in February. Mid cap (+1.46%) and large cap REITs (+1.04%) averaged gains in February outperforming small caps (-1.33%) and micro caps (-6.98%). Only 50.64% of REIT securities had a positive total return in February.

The State Of REITs: March 2024 Edition

Bank of America

Citigroup

CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust

Goldman Sachs

JPMorgan Chase & Co

Morgan Stanley

Office Properties Income Trust

The REIT sector had a rough start to 2024 with a -5.72% total return in January. Large cap REITs (-4.79%) outperformed their smaller peers in January. Micro cap REITs (-8.39%) averaged the steepest declines. Only 9.55% of REIT securities had a positive total return in January.

The State Of REITs: February 2024 Edition

Diversified Healthcare Trust

Empire State Realty Trust

Kimco Realty

US Diversified Real Estate ETF

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust

Invesco Active US Real Estate

The REIT sector closed the year out strong with a +11.40% total return in December, pushing into positive territory for the full year (+8.66%). Small cap REITs (+13.39%) outperformed in December. Large cap REITs (+9.55%) averaged a lower return than their smaller peers. 90.79% of REIT securities had a positive total return in December with 66.25% in the black for the full year.

The State Of REITs: January 2024 Edition

Extra Space Storage

NexPoint Residential Trust

REITs averaged a -5.31% total return in October and have now fallen to a double-digit negative total return year to date (-10.46%). Large cap REITs (-2.24%) outperformed their smaller peers in October. Micro caps (-11.32%) extended their streak of severe underperformance. 26.80% of REIT securities had a positive total return in October with just 25.00% in the black year to date.

The State Of REITs: November 2023 Edition

Global Net Lease

Industrial Logistics Properties

Power REIT

ALPS Active REIT ETF

REITs averaged a -7.14% total return in September and have fallen into the red year to date. Small cap REITs (-6.51%) outperformed yet again in September. Micro caps (-10.45%) continue to severely underperform their larger REIT peers. Only 9.74% of REIT securities had a positive total return in September with 34.38% in the black year to date.

The State Of REITs: October 2023 Edition

Americold Realty

First Industrial Realty Trust

Hersha Hospitality Trust Class A

The REIT sector gave up some of the gains achieved in June and July, with a -4.13% average total return in August. Small cap REITs (-2.49%) outperformed again in August. Micro caps (-13.08%) badly underperformed their larger REIT peers. Only 18.06% of REIT securities had a positive total return in August, with 48.13% in the black year to date.

The State Of REITs: September 2023 Edition

InnSuites Hospitality Trust

Strategic Residential & Apartment Real Estate ETF

iShares Residential Real Estate ETF

Hoya Capital High Dividend Yield ETF

The REIT sector followed a strong June with further gains in July, averaging a solid +4.37% total return in July. Small-cap REITs (+5.23%) continued to outperform in July. Large caps (+2.46%) underperformed their smaller REIT peers for the 3rd straight month in July. 73.72% of REIT securities had a positive total return in July with 60.63% in the black year to date.

The State Of REITs: August 2023 Edition

Farmland Partners

Host Hotels & Resorts

Gladstone Land

PotlatchDeltic

After 4 straight months in the red, the REIT sector surged back into the black year to date with a stellar +7.41% total return in June. Small cap REITs (+8.59%) outperformed again in June. Large caps (+5.51%) again underperformed their smaller REIT peers in June. A remarkable 87.34% of REIT securities had a positive total return in June with 49.69% in the black year to date.

The State Of REITs: July 2023 Edition

Dimensional US Small Cap Value ETF

Dimensional US High Profitability ETF

Dimensional Fund Advisors expanded its line-up of exchange traded funds with the launch of three new U.S. equity ETFs: the Dimensional US Small Cap Value ETF (NYSE Arca: DFSV), the Dimensional US High Profitability ETF (NYSE Arca: DUHP), and the Dimensional US Real Estate ETF (NYSE Arca: DFAR). The ETFs, which begin trading today on [.

Dimensional Adds 3 New U.S. Equity ETFs to Fund Suite

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dimensional Fund Advisors, a global leader in systematic multifactor investing, expanded its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offering with today's listing of three new US equity ETFs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The new ETFs offer broadly diversified exposure to US small cap value and US high profitability1 equities, as well as US real estate markets. “We continue to build out Dimensional's ETF suite, which not only offers the benefits of passive strategie

Dimensional Adds Three New US Equity ETFs to Growing Offering

News for Dimensional US Real Estate ETF ETF (DFAR)