Advisors and investors know that one source of allure with the real estate sector is its history of above-average dividends.
Alone, payouts are nice, but dependable dividend growth is what really matters for long-term investors and that’s one reason why the ALPS Active REIT ETF (REIT ) is a fund to consider when examining the universe of real estate investment trusts (REITs).
REIT is actively managed. This is a potentially advantageous management style; the ETF’s managers can more rapidly see potential dividend offenders as well as the REITs with best outlooks for long-term payout growth. On that note, it’s worth acknowledging the broader real estate dividend picture is appealing.
REIT Dividends Have Been Rising
Obviously, 2026 is in its early innings. What distribution hikes, if any, among the ALPS ETF’s member firms play out remains to be seen. What is not up for debate is the fact that real estate dividends, broadly speaking, are on the rise. Last year, 73 landlords, including 11 in December, lifted distributions, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Host Hotels & Resorts (HST), a member of the REIT portfolio, is an example of recent real estate dividend raiser.
That company “announced a 15-cent-per-share special dividend in December on top of its regular 20-cent-per-share quarterly dividend, which remained unchanged. Including the special dividend, the hotel REIT’s payouts for full year 2025 totaled 95 cents per share, up 5.6% from the 90 cents per share announced the year prior,” noted S&P.
REIT's Real Estate Investing Advantages
Experienced real estate investors also know that dividend increase trends aren’t linear across all of the sector’s sub-groups. Fortunately, the ALPS ETF tilts toward some real estate segments proving to be fertile territory for increasing dividends. Those include retail and residential REITs, which combine for 28.51% of the fund’s portfolio.
“Of the 73 US public REITs that declared higher dividends in 2025, 21 are retail REITs, representing 80.8% of the subsector,” added S&P. “Fourteen US residential REITS announced an increase in dividend payments, accounting for 70% of the subsector.”
Another point in favor of the ETF is that the sector’s dividend outlook today compares favorably to what was seen prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Forty-eight US REITs, or 65.8% of the total, recorded higher dividends in 2025 compared with their 2019 payouts. Twenty US REITs, or 27.4% of the total, declared lower dividends in 2025 versus the pre-pandemic level,” concluded S&P.
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