Top Performing Real Estate ETFs June 2013

Find top performing real estate ETFs June 2013. Check the best REIT ETFs for your investment including iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF, Wilshire US REIT ETF, and more.

Top Real Estate ETFs

Real estate exchange traded funds invest mainly in stocks of companies related in real estate industry. It may invest in REIT or real estate investment trust. These ETFs are typically index funds that are tracking their benchmark.

The funds have higher yield than other sector funds. From this best performing funds list, you may find each individual fund review. You can find the fund performance, expense ratio, and yield or dividend from the table below. The list is sorted based on its 1 year total return.

The top performing real estate ETFs June 2013 are:

Top Performer ETFs

1. iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors (ICF)
2. SPDR Dow Jones REIT (RWR)
3. Schwab US REIT ETF (SCHH)
4. Wilshire US REIT ETF (WREI)
5. iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT North America (IFNA)
6. iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office Capped Index (FNIO)
7. iShares FTSE NAREIT Real Estate 50 (FTY)
8. iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential Plus Capped Index (REZ)
9. First Trust S&P REIT Index (FRI)
10. Vanguard REIT Index ETF (VNQ)
11. iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate (IYR)
12. iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Capped Index (RTL)
13. iShares FTSE NAREIT Mort Plus Capped Index (REM)
14. Market Vectors Mortgage REIT ETF (MORT)
15. PowerShares KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT (KBWY)
16. IQ U.S. Real Estate Small Cap ETF (ROOF)

Updated on June 21, 2013

iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF (ICF)

ICF fund

This iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF invests mainly in large- and mid-cap U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs). As the best performer in Real Estate ETF, this ICF fund has total net assets of $3.27 billion. The fund is rated with 2-stars rating by Morningstar. It is currently traded at -0.47% discount from its NAV. The 12-month dividend yield is 2.67%. The fund has been in the market since January 2001.

As one of the top performing real Estate ETFs, it has a low expense ratio of 0.35%. The top 5 stocks of this fund are Simon Property Group Inc (7.94%), HCP Inc (7.23%), Ventas Inc (7.12%), Public Storage (7.10%) and Prologis Inc (6.37%). The top sector breakdown is Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) with 99.72%.

SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF (RWR)

This SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF seeks to match the returns and characteristics of the Dow Jones U.S. Select REIT Index. The fund’s CUSIP is 78464A607. This stock fund has $2.33 billion of total net assets. The annual expense ratio is 0.25%. The fund is currently traded at discount -0.10% from its NAV. It has 16.24% of YTD return as of May 15, 2013. The 30-Day SEC yield is 2.80%.

The top 5 equities in its holdings as of May 13, 2013 are Simon Property Group Inc New (11.70%), Public Storage (4.94%), HCP Inc (4.89%), Ventas Inc (4.83%) and Prologis Inc (4.42%). The top sector allocations are Regional Malls (18.61%), Healthcare (15.97%) and Apartments (15.96%).

Schwab US REIT ETF (SCHH)

Schwab ETF

The Schwab US REIT ETF is also tracking the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Select REIT Index. The annual expense ratio is only 0.07%. The total net assets are $627.79 million. The fund has 12-month dividend yield of 2.16%. The previous dividend payment was given in March 2013 in the amount of $0.1741. For 2013, it has YTD return of 16.43%.

The portfolio turnover is only 7%. As of May 14, 2013, it has 85 total holdings. The top 10 holdings represent 48.5% of the total portfolio. The top 5 holdings are Simon Property Group Inc (11.59%), HCP Inc (5.04%), Public Storage (4.90%), Ventas Inc (4.84%) and Prologis Inc (4.40%). The top sector weightings are Specialized REITs (28.8%) and Retail REITs (27.1%).

Wilshire US REIT ETF (WREI)

This Wilshire US REIT ETF is part of the Guggenheim Funds family. It has small assets of $20.99 million. The dividend yield is 2.57%. This yield is distributed on quarterly basis. Morningstar analysts rank this fund with 4-stars rating. The fund’s inception date is on March 2010.

The top fund sector is Financials (99.87%). The top 5 stocks as of May 14, 2013 are Simon Debartolo Group Inc (11.04%), HCP Inc (4.76%), Public Storage Inc (4.66%), Ventas Inc (4.62%) and Equity Residential Props TR (4.19%).

iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT North America (IFNA)

IFNA fund

This iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT North America fund is also known as iShares North America REIT ETF. It has been in the market since 2007 and has 3-stars rating from Morningstar. The annual expense ratio is 0.48%. It is currently traded at 0.25% premium from its NAV. The 30-day SEC yield is 2.64%. It also has total net assets of $24.75 million.

United States (90.95%) is the top country breakdown of this fund. The top 5 holdings as of May 14, 2013 are Simon Property Group Inc (9.35%), HCP Inc (4.11%), Ventas Inc (4.03%), Public Storage Inc (4.00%) and Prologis Inc (3.38%).

Vanguard REIT Index ETF (VNQ)

As part of Vanguard fund family, this Vanguard REIT Index ETF has the largest assets among all funds with $20.59 billion. Ranked with 3-stars rating by Morningstar, this REIT fund has YTD return of 17.52% (May 15, 2013). The dividend yield is 3.15%. It also has low annual expense ratio of 0.10%. REIT Spliced Index is the fund’s benchmark.

As of April 2013, it has a total of 121 stocks. The top 10 largest holdings represent 43.3% of total net assets. They are Simon Property Group Inc, HCP Inc, Public Storage, Ventas Inc, Prologis Inc, Health Care REIT Inc, Equity Residential, Boston Properties Inc, AvalonBay Communities Inc and Vornado Realty Trust.

REIT ETF Information

No	Fund Description	Ticker	Rating	Assets (MS)	Expense Ratio	Yield
1	iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors	ICF	2	$3,270.0	0.35%	2.67%
2	SPDR Dow Jones REIT	RWR	2	$2,330.0	0.25%	2.66%
3	Schwab US REIT ETF	SCHH	N/A	$627.8	0.07%	2.16%
4	Wilshire US REIT ETF	WREI	4	$20.9	0.32%	2.57%
5	iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT North America	IFNA	3	$24.8	0.48%	2.83%
6	iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrl/Offc Cp Idx	FNIO	1	$13.5	0.48%	2.59%
7	iShares FTSE NAREIT Real Estate 50	FTY	3	$104.8	0.48%	3.11%
8	iShares FTSE NAREIT Resid Plus Cp Idx	REZ	5	$366.9	0.48%	2.80%
9	First Trust S&P REIT Idx	FRI	3	$534.8	0.50%	2.16%
10	Vanguard REIT Index ETF	VNQ	3	$20,590.0	0.10%	3.15%
11	iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate	IYR	3	$5,730.0	0.47%	3.33%
12	iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Cp Idx	RTL	3	$21.1	0.48%	2.72%
13	iShares FTSE NAREIT Mort Plus Cp Idx	REM	4	$1,230.0	0.48%	11.05%
14	Market Vectors Mortgage REIT ETF	MORT	N/A	$124.6	0.40%	9.22%
15	PowerShares KBW Prem Yield Equity REIT	KBWY	N/A	$114.6	0.35%	4.17%
16	IQ U.S. Real Estate Small Cap ETF	ROOF	N/A	$62.6	0.69%	4.35%

Fund Performance

No	Fund Description	YTD Return %	1 Year Return %	3 Year Return %	5 Year Return %
1	iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors	14.97%	18.59%	17.85%	4.54%
2	SPDR Dow Jones REIT	16.24%	20.48%	18.16%	5.98%
3	Schwab US REIT ETF	16.43%	20.54%	N/A	N/A
4	Wilshire US REIT ETF	16.55%	19.65%	18.24%	N/A
5	iShares FTSE EPRA/NAREIT North America	17.85%	20.06%	18.12%	6.08%
6	iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrl/Offc Cp Idx	18.27%	22.39%	13.74%	-0.50%
7	iShares FTSE NAREIT Real Estate 50	15.48%	21.29%	18.36%	6.14%
8	iShares FTSE NAREIT Resid Plus Cp Idx	16.57%	22.37%	20.17%	9.38%
9	First Trust S&P REIT Idx	17.57%	22.68%	18.45%	6.49%
10	Vanguard REIT Index ETF	17.52%	22.83%	18.85%	7.33%
11	iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate	15.93%	22.06%	17.40%	5.70%
12	iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Cp Idx	20.97%	28.70%	23.29%	5.83%
13	iShares FTSE NAREIT Mort Plus Cp Idx	12.22%	19.16%	12.34%	1.41%
14	Market Vectors Mortgage REIT ETF	13.93%	22.39%	N/A	N/A
15	PowerShares KBW Prem Yield Equity REIT	27.74%	46.50%	N/A	N/A
16	IQ U.S. Real Estate Small Cap ETF	22.65%	42.31%	N/A	N/A