REITs: A Year To Forget

December 31, 2020 | Hoya Capital

REITs: A Year To Forget Daily Recap Dec 31 Written By Summary U.S. equity markets finished a tumultuous 2020 at record-highs despite the unprecedented ongoing global pandemic, rallying back from a historic market sell-off that push financial markets to the absolute brink. Ending the year with gains of more than 16%, the S&P 500 finished higher by 0.6% today while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 197 points to close at fresh record-highs.

Real estate equities were mostly higher on the day as the broad-based Equity REIT ETF (VNQ) gained 1.0% with 16-of-19 property sectors in positive territory, but ended 2020 lower by 8.5%. The gains today were aided by encouraging employment data this morning. Initial Jobless Claims ticked lower to 787k - four-week lows - showing signs of improvement after an uptick in December. Continuing Claims decreased to 5.21 million, down another 100k from last week. 130 of 170 equity REITs finished in negative territory for the year with five REITs recording declines of over 80%. 35 of 41 mortgage REITs recorded declines in 2020.

"Essential" property sectors - housing, technology, and logistics - were the bright-spots. Real Estate Daily Recap U.S. equity markets finished a tumultuous 2020 at record-highs despite the unprecedented ongoing global pandemic, rallying back from a historic market sell-off in March that push financial markets to the absolute brink. Ending the year with gains of more than 16%, the S&P 500 ETF ( SPY ) finished higher by 0.6% today while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DIA ) gained 197 points to close at record-highs.

Real estate equities were mostly higher on the day as the Equity REIT ETF ( VNQ ) gained 1.0% with 16 of 19 property sectors in positive territory, but ended the year off by 8.4%. The Mortgage REIT ETF ( REM ) gained 0.6% but ended the year lower by 28.5%. Ten of the eleven GICS equity sectors finished ...