SPDR® Dow Jones REIT ETF earns a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Neutral with strength in areas such as People offset by weaker spots such as Process. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the cheapest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy receives a Below Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant overweight position in quality exposure and yield exposure compared with category peers. High quality exposure is attributed to stocks with low financial leverage and strong returns on equity. And a high yield exposure is rooted in holding high dividend-paying or buyback stocks. The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Above Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar 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

Welltower

Simon Property Group

Realty Income Corp

Digital Realty Trust

Public Storage

Extra Space Storage

AvalonBay Communities

Equity Residential

Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. SPDR® Dow Jones REIT ETF earns a Below Average Process Pillar rating. The process is strengthened by tracking an index. Historical data, like Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. However, the rating is weakened by the fund's weak long-term risk-adjusted performance. This can be seen in its five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the process has struggled over that period. 

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is:  The investment seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the total return performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select REIT Index.  The fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the index. The index is designed to provide a measure of real estate securities that serve as proxies for direct real estate investing, and in part by excluding securities whose value is not always closely tied to the value of the underlying real estate. 

 The portfolio is overweight in real estate by 2.6 percentage points in terms of assets compared with the category average, and its healthcare allocation is similar to the category. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are consumer cyclical and financial services; however, the allocations are similar to the category. The portfolio is positioned across 105 holdings and is less top-heavy than peers. Specifically, 52.1% of the fund’s assets are concentrated within the top 10 fund holdings, as opposed to the typical peer's 59.9%. And in closing, in terms of portfolio turnover, on a year-over-year basis, 5% of the fund's holdings have changed, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Below Average

Process

SPDR® Dow Jones REIT ETF's strong equity team drives the strategy's Above Average People Pillar rating. There are two managers listed on the fund: Karl Schneider, Lisa Hobart. Experience on the team is abundant, with 17 years of average portfolio management experience. Together, they manage a total of two strategies, with mixed prospects. The asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating across the strategies is Neutral. This means, in aggregate, they are not positioned to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

Above Average

People

State Street Global Advisors is under new leadership but continues to move along the positive trajectory established by former leaders. SSGA maintains its Above Average Parent Pillar rating.
Cyrus Taraporevala, who oversaw much of SSGA’s recent transformation, retired from the CEO position in December 2022 and passed the baton to his successor, Yie-Hsin Hung. She inherited a business that’s become more disciplined with its fund lineup. Fees have come down, while product development remains focused on fixed-income and sustainability funds, and many of SSGA’s launches have echoed that intention.
The seeds that SSGA planted over the past several years have been bearing fruit. It built out a low-cost series of portfolio building-block ETFs in the U.S. bearing the “SPDR Portfolio” branding. SSGA launched these later than its industry rivals, so they aren’t as large. But they’re competitive, with solid management and low fees, which helped them consistently take in new money over the past several years.
SSGA continued to overhaul its ETF business in Europe with most of its recent fixed-income and sustainability fund launches. Many of these funds track indexes and charge relatively low fees. With operations in the U.S. and Europe standing on a firm foundation, SSGA will put more focus on its Asia-Pacific business—the smallest regional segment of its business.

Parent

SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF

RWR tracks a market cap-weighted index of firms involved in the ownership and operation of commercial, residential, healthcare and other real estate.

American Tower

JPMorgan BetaBuilders MSCI US REIT ETF

Direxion Daily Real Estate Bull 3x Shares

Direxion Daily Real Estate Bear 3x Shares

Essex Property Trust

Fidelity MSCI Real Estate ETF

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund

H&R Block

iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF

Nuveen Real Estate Income Fund

Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF

Neuberger Berman Real Estate Securities Income Fund Inc

US Diversified Real Estate ETF

Invesco Active US Real Estate

ALPS Active REIT ETF

ProShares Short Real Estate

Cohen And Steers Total Return Realty Fund

Cohen & Steers Reit And Preferred Income Fund Inc

Cohen & Steers Quality Income Realty Fund

Real estate investment through REITs is popular because REITs distribute generous dividends and also they're easy to understand.

Investing In Real Estate Through REITs

Schwab U.S. REIT ETF

Seven Hills Realty Trust

ProShares UltraShort Real Estate

Pacer Funds Trust-Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate Sector ETF

How REITs have fared through high interest rate environment. Takeaways from REITs earnings season so far. When rate cuts do come, some REIT sectors may stand to benefit.

Why Lower Rates Could Lead To Opportunities In REITs This Year

ProShares Ultra Real Estate

iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF

Vanguard Real Estate ETF

The yield on 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities TIPS fell significantly from ~2.5% to ~1.7% in the last two months of 2023. How does this affect real estate? As long-lived, fixed assets with inflation-protective characteristics, quality real estate can be viewed as an equivalent to TIPS plus a risk premium.

An Opportunity For REITs To Shine In 2024

After lagging equities for the past two years, REITs offer an attractive investment opportunity in 2024. Peaking or falling yields have historically been a catalyst for strong REIT market outperformance.

2024 Listed REITs Outlook

iShares U.S. Industrials ETF

Vanguard Small-Cap Growth

Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund

SPDR S&P Retail ETF

The U.S. economy exhibited a robust performance in the fourth quarter of 2023, with the real GDP growing at an annualized rate of 3.3%. This growth topped market expectations of 2% and followed a 4.9% increase in the third quarter.

U.S. GDP Growth Beats Expectations in Q4: ETFs to Benefit

CubeSmart

National Storage Affiliates Trust

Global Self Storage

Self-Storage REITs delivered incredible growth early in the pandemic driven by surging housing market activity, but have been victims to their own success of late amid a supply-driven cooldown. Robust double-digit rent growth and relatively low operational barriers to entry prompted a wave of new development, with a roughly 12% expansion in total supply expected between 2022 and 2024. This supply boom - twice the magnitude of the multifamily sector - has reignited fierce "storage wars" between competing facilities, which has led to double-digit dips in new lease rates since mid-2022.

Storage REITs: Victims Of Own Success

Tricon Residential

Canadian REITs have not participated in the recent REIT rally, potentially leading to potential opportunistic cheapness. Canadian REITs are significantly cheaper than U.S. REITs, with lower cashflow multiples and greater discounts to net asset value. However, higher leverage and smaller market caps make them riskier as well.

Canadian REITs Are Getting Interesting

Brookfield Asset Management

Blackstone Group

Camden Property

Mid-America Apartment Communities

Major private equity groups are investing in the REIT sector. They are buying apartment REITs at 60-70 cents on the dollar. So am I and here's why.

I Am Buying Apartment REITs Hand Over Fist

The S&P 500 has massively outperformed REITs in recent years. But we expect this outperformance to soon reverse. I explain why I expect REITs to easily beat the S&P 500 going forward.

Why REITs Will Likely Pummel The S&P 500

Hoya Capital Housing ETF

Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF

iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF

Janus Henderson U.S. Real Estate ETF

VanEck Mortgage REIT Income ETF

Direxion Daily Homebuilders & Supplies Bull 3X Shares

Nuveen Short-Term REIT ETF

Invesco Dynamic Building & Construction ETF

iShares Global REIT ETF

iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF

iShares Residential Real Estate ETF

IQ US Real Estate Small Cap ETF

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Real Estate ETF

Global X SuperDividend REIT ETF

SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF

Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund

Alpine Global Premier Properties Fund

DoubleLine Commercial Real Estate ETF

First Trust Alerian Disruptive

iShares International Developed Real Estate ETF

CBRE Global Real Estate Income Fund

Invesco Real Assets ESG ETF

NETLease Corporate Real Estate ETF

SPDR Dow Jones Global Real Estate ETF

SPDR Dow Jones International Real Estate ETF

Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate ETF

iShares International Developed Property ETF

The history of construction spending since 1993 reveals that this data tends to weaken prior to recessions. For a recent dip in Residential Construction attributed to the rise in mortgage rates, this indicator is charging higher.

Construction Spending Rises

REITs have underperformed the broader stock market, but the SPDR® Dow Jones REIT ETF offers an opportunity to invest in the real estate market. The RWR ETF provides exposure to a diverse range of REIT securities and had a consistent yield over the last decade. RWR compares favorably to other REIT ETFs and could benefit from the Federal Reserve's decision to stop raising rates. However, rising interest rates and tighter lending policies pose risks to the fund's performance.

RWR: The Time Might Be Now

Why Warren Buffett And Charlie Munger Don't Like REITs But You Should

Nuveen S&P 500 Dynamic Overwrite Fund

CEFs yield an average 8%, and many of those dividends are sustainable and growing.

These Steady 8% Dividends Are Trading Like Its 2019

Alexandria Real Estate Equities

Crown Castle International

REITs are currently facing widespread dislike among investors. The negative sentiment towards REITs is due to the high-interest rates. I explain why I believe that most investors are misguided and highlight some opportunities to consider.

Urgent Warning To REIT Investors

Amidst the bearish sentiment towards real estate, a compelling opportunity to own REITs has emerged. The deeply discounted REIT market has largely priced in the challenges for real estate of higher rates and tighter credit markets. Areas of concern for real estate - office properties or too much leverage - are well-contained in public REIT markets. REITs generally possess high-quality balance sheets and have minimal exposure to traditional office space.

Opportunities In Listed REITs Today

I hold a significant allocation towards quality REITs. In this article, I share my bullish thesis for investing in the sector. I also highlight catalysts that could take quality REITs to new all-time highs in as little as 12 months.

My Bullish REIT Thesis And Catalysts That Could Take Us To New ATHs

Farmland Partners

Gladstone Land

PotlatchDeltic

One of the hottest "inflation hedges" during the pandemic, land REITs have fallen out-of-favor as rising rates and normalizing supply chains have created disinflationary - and even deflationary - headwinds for commodities. While services sector inflation remains sticky, goods-related inflation has fallen dramatically over the past nine months, with some inflation reports now showing goods deflation levels typically seen only in recessions.

Land REITs: Disinflation Headwinds

Allow me to utilize 2 overused quotes: Buy when there is blood in the streets. Be greedy when others are fearful.

Peak Bear Has Arrived In Real Estate

SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF is a real estate ETF with a strong dividend yield of 3.77% and steady dividend growth rate. Despite trailing the S&P 500 in returns and experiencing slow growth, historical data shows that REITs generally outperform during and post-recessions. The fund faces risks due to tightening monetary policies and rising interest rates in the commercial real estate sector.

RWR: Yield And Liquidity Bring Stability Amid Market Challenges

Virtus Real Asset Income ETF

U.S. equity markets climbed to their highs of the year as investors took positions ahead of a critical slate of inflation data and an anticipated "pause" in the Fed's rate hike cycle.

Fed Looms Over New 'Bull Market'

Wall Street experts differ in their outlooks for America's housing market.  Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel, real estate tycoon Jeff Greene, and others have warned that home prices will drop, while others like "Shark Tank" star Barbara Corcoran are more optimistic.

Wall Street is divided on the outlook for US house prices. Here's what 6 experts have recently said.

In recent years, specialized technology-adjacent property types such as towers, data centers and industrial have gained prominence in the real estate market due to changes in consumer behavior, technological advancements, and their critical role in supporting the modern economy. The REIT universe looks much different today, appropriately reflecting the changes that are happening all around us. REITs are not just constrained to malls and offices; quite the contrary, the REIT sector is a dynamic one, with exposure to both secular growth dynamics and sources of bulwark stability.

REITs: Ever Changing, Ever Valuable

Hudson Pacific Properties

This article will unveil our analysis, providing you with some insight toward understanding the current state of the REIT market and its future potential, particularly in the realm of sustainable investments. Real estate plays a significant role in climate change, both as a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and as a sector that is highly vulnerable to the physical impacts of a changing climate. Investing in sustainable REITs allows investors to have a real-world impact through their portfolio.

Navigating The Sustainable REIT Market: Green Alpha's Essential Guide

A lot of investors appear to think that REITs will drop lower. They believe that their valuations aren't low enough. Do they have a point? We take a closer look and issue a warning to those REIT investors who are trying to time the market.

Important Warning For REIT Investors

Ashford Hospitality Trust

Diversified Healthcare Trust

Franklin Street Properties Corp.

Goldman Sachs Future Real Estate And Infrastructure Equity ETF

Home Appreciation US REIT ETF

Office Properties Income Trust

Strategic Residential & Apartment Real Estate ETF

Hoya Capital High Dividend Yield ETF

ETFB Green SRI REITs ETF

iStar Inc

SL Green Realty

WisdomTree New Economy Real Es

The REIT sector fell again in March with a -6.11% total return. Large cap (-1.99%) and mid cap (-4.56%) REITs saw modestly negative total returns in March, while small caps (-6.76%) and micro caps (-15.50%) were deeper in the red.

The State Of REITs: April 2023 Edition

News for SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF ETF (RWR)