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Examining Three Global Real Estate ETFs

Jared Cummans — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:37:39 +0000

The housing sector has been rather difficult to predict in the past few years. Once the U.S. housing bubble burst and the Great Recession began, investors pulled out of a number of domestic equities fearing that the crisis would last for quite some time. Unfortunately, those investors were correct, as housing in the U.S. is still fighting to reach pre-recession levels. In fact, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index is just now reaching 2003 levels at around 155-160. To recover to its 2007 high, the index needs to get up to about 225, an increase of about 45%. As such, investors have begun to look abroad for their real estate exposure, as a stagnant U.S. economy seems to offer little in the way of potential [see also Time For A Real Estate ETF?]. As the ETF world has rapidly expanded, so too have the options for allocating to this coveted asset class. [...]

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Investors Put A Down Payment On High-Yielding Real Estate ETFs

Jared Cummans — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:00:37 +0000

To say that the current investment landscape is complex would be quite the understatement. Recent weeks have seen environmental, humanitarian, and economic crises break out in Japan, with the aftershocks rippling throughout the global economy. Moving across the globe, the Libyan Crisis has dominated headlines for quite some time now, as a series of revolutions spreading across the Middle East came to a head in this volatile nation. Now that key oil production in Libya has come to a standstill, the price of crude is skyrocketing, jumping to over $113 per barrel last week. While equity markets are uncertain, the appeal of fixed income has been dulled by a prolonged stretch of record low interest rates. Though the ECB has finally pushed rates higher, yields throughout the developed world remain anemic. This combination has brought renewed interest to dividend-paying equities, an option for investors looking to dial back equity risk [...]

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Time For A Real Estate ETF?

Michael Johnston — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:41:32 +0000

Historically, no portfolio was complete without a material allocation to real estate. Consistently high real returns and low correlations to stocks and bonds made it easy to overlook the out-of-whack fundamentals that ultimately led to an unprecedented collapse. But when real estate markets got a reality check in late 2008, many investors swore off the asset class for good. Or so they thought. After losing their shirts in real estate investments during the financial crisis, many investors washed their hands (and their portfolios) of REITs, unable to tolerate such extreme volatility and unwilling to accept the downside ramifications of risky assets. But investors who were able to spot the bottom of the real estate market in the U.S. have been handsomely rewarded, and now many are beginning to consider a more significant allocation to this asset class. The ETF boom has presented dozens of options for investors looking to add [...]

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Low Cost ETFs: Complete List Of The Cheapest Exchange-Traded Funds

Michael Johnston — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:15:04 +0000

The reasons for the rise of the ETF industry are numerous: intraday liquidity, (potentially) superior tax efficiency, and enhanced transparency relative to traditional actively-managed mutual funds have all contributed to the billions of dollars of inflows that these funds have seen in recent years. But the real attraction for most ETF investors is the reduced expenses these products offer, often only a fraction of the fees charged by mutual funds. But between ETFs, expense ratios can vary significantly, ranging from 0.08% (for several Schwab ETFs) to a whopping 1.50% (for the DENT actively-managed ETF). For investors looking to minimize expenses and pursue an indexing strategy in favor of active management, investing in ETFs is only the first step. In order to assist cost-conscious investors, we’ve assembled the cheapest ETF options for almost every asset class and sub-asset class. Each of the 900-plus ETFs currently included in the ETF Screener were [...]

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Apartment Glut Keeps Residential Real Estate ETF In Check

Michael Johnston — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:43:50 +0000

In recent months, the U.S. housing market has shown signs of life, with several major metropolitan areas eking out small month-over-month gains. While home prices remain well below year-ago levels, there are at least signs that the worst has passed, and a modest recovery is now underway. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the rest of the U.S. real estate market. Apartment vacancies recently surged to 7.8%, the highest level since 1986. And the rate is only expected to rise as demand drops further in the traditionally weak fall and winter months. The decline in the rental apartment market is directly related to the unemployment rate, which recently climbed to 9.8%. As layoffs mount, the unemployed become more likely to move in with friends or family. The current environment has been particularly hard on landlords because a disproportionately high percentage of the unemployed are under the age of 35, [...]

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Who Else Wants Ex-U.S. ETFs?

Michael Johnston — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:05:51 +0000

After decades of flying high and shrugging off crises around the world, U.S. equity markets have fallen on some tough times. The epicenter of the mortgage crisis that evolved into a global recession has scared away many investors away from the U.S. markets, afraid that the worst is yet to come and that the “glory days” of America have passed. Investor reluctance to jump back into the U.S. markets is perhaps best evidenced by the increase in popularity of “ex-U.S.” ETFs, funds that offer exposure to a well-diversified basket of global securities but avoid any investments in the States. Over the last year, many of these funds have experienced strong fund inflows, and have significantly outperformed major U.S. benchmarks. As unemployment remains high, banks continue to close, credit markets are yet to thaw, and the future of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency sits in serious jeopardy, many investors, both [...]

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Half Year In Review: Six ETF Stories From The First Six Months of ’09

Michael Johnston — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:05:58 +0000

With a roller coaster six months behind us that saw no shortage of interesting twists and turns and unsuspected headlines, we’ve finally reached the midway point of 2009. Ahead of us is the highly anticipated “second half of 2009,” which for months we’ve heard will hold returns to growth, a recovering economy, and enough green shoots feed a revolution (possibly the one taking shape in the streets of Iran?). When looking graphically at the market’s performance over the last two quarters, I felt like I was going through a sloppy to-do list. Everything looks like a squiggly checkmark, with a sharp decline in the beginning of the year followed by a longer upslope, bringing us right about back to where we started. But not all ETFs followed this pattern. Here’s a look at six groups of ETFs that distinguished themselves in the first half of 2009: 1. It’s G-O-O-D to be [...]

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Global Real Estate ETFs Leave U.S. Funds In Their Dust

Michael Johnston — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:28:30 +0000

As the first half of 2009 draws to a close, it seems that we’re finally starting to see things return to some semblance of normality. Equity markets have rallied sharply since bottoming out in March. Volatility is back within its historical range after hitting record highs over the past year. And politicians in Washington have been able to slowly turn their attention from the economy to other important disagreements, such as how to proceed in Iran, how to reform healthcare, and what to do about America’s dependence on foreign oil. But despite all these green shoots in the economy, U.S. real estate ETFs remains stuck in a rut, lagging far behind global rivals who have enjoyed tremendous rallies in recent months. Worst Yet To Come? By most analyst accounts, U.S. REITs have been held in check largely due to fears that the worst of the real estate bear market is yet [...]

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ETF Database » IFGL

Examining Three Global Real Estate ETFs

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Investors Put A Down Payment On High-Yielding Real Estate ETFs

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Time For A Real Estate ETF?

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Low Cost ETFs: Complete List Of The Cheapest Exchange-Traded Funds

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Apartment Glut Keeps Residential Real Estate ETF In Check

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Who Else Wants Ex-U.S. ETFs?

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Half Year In Review: Six ETF Stories From The First Six Months of ’09

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Global Real Estate ETFs Leave U.S. Funds In Their Dust

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