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U.S. REITs Outperform Broader Market Equities in Q1 2026
REITs have outperformed broad market equities year to date, with the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index posting a total return of 3.8%, Nareit reported. During the same time period, the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market fell 4.0% and the Russell 1000 fell 4.2%.
However, Nareit’s John Barwick cited “significant uncertainty affecting all asset classes” in the past month as the war with Iran has continued. Before the conflict began, most REIT sectors had accumulated solid YTD returns, with the All Equity REITs Index returning 10.5% as of Feb. 27, led by data centers at 22.3%, specialty at 21.8% and self-storage at 17.3%.
From Feb. 28 to March 31, the All Equity REITs Index narrowly underperformed broader markets, declining 6.1%, while the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market fell 4.9% and the Russell 1000 declined 5.0%. As of March 31, the dividend yield on the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs index was 4.00% and the FTSE Nareit Mortgage REITs Index yielded 12.96%, compared to 1.17% for the S&P 500.
- ◦Financing
