IYR Stock Recent News

REITs finished the first quarter of 2025 in the red (-3.36%) with a brutal -4.92% average total return in March. Large cap (-2.04%) and mid cap REITs (-2.63%) saw modest losses, but small caps (-4.16%) and micro caps (-16.19%) had a particularly bad month. Only 29.49% of REIT securities had a positive total return in March.

A notable defensive rotation is underway this year, benefitting REIT stocks. The recipe that makes REITs a compelling investment today already contains two important ingredients – cheap valuations and positive fundamentals. With a macro backdrop starting to wobble, it's important to realize the steady, durable earnings that REITs offer.

Since 2000, annual returns of international equities have been better than those of the U.S. only nine times. As concerns grow about the impact of tariffs on the economy and uncertainty looms, market participants appear to be reducing their weight in the U.S. Amid geopolitical tensions and evolving trade policies, international equities from developed markets in 2025 have outperformed the U.S. YTD, as some market participants are turning their focus to other geographies.

US equity markets fluctuated wildly in a tumultuous week - ultimately ending with the best weekly gains since November 2023 - after the White House announced a delay on the most "reciprocal" tariffs. Following several days of extreme volatility in which tremors of instability were felt across global markets, investors exhaled as the Administration's tariff messaging pivoted from "retribution" and "score-settling" to dealmaking. Government bond markets were in focus throughout the week as the 10-Year Treasury experienced significant and still-unexplained weakness, failing to act as typical "safe havens" during the market plunge.

Equities rallied on Wednesday after Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on retaliatory tariffs, excluding China. 10-year Treasury yields have increased high amid fears of sticky inflation. The Federal Reserve has signalled that it will lower interest rates until the impact of tariffs is clearer. Offering dividend yields as high as 8.1% and an average forward dividend yield of 5.7%, SA Quant has identified five income-generating REITs with strong dividend safety characteristics and positive factor.

REITs have remained resilient during the market crash due to their reasonable valuations and fundamental advantages, including isolation from tariffs and inflation hedging. The broader market crash is attributed to weak consumer sentiment, high inflation, tariff uncertainty, and tepid employment numbers, compounded by extreme valuations. REITs offer steady, predictable growth through long-term rental contracts and are trading at attractive valuations, especially among small and mid-cap REITs.

IYR has strong top REIT holdings, including Prologis, American Tower Corporation, and Welltower that make up about 20% of the fund's weight. While these top REIT holdings have high occupancies and solid fundamental characteristics, they also have high share prices, leading to a high valuation overall for IYR. Compared to top peer REIT funds, IYR has the highest expense ratio and lowest dividend yield.

US equity markets posted modest gains this week - snapping a four-week losing streak - as investors parsed commentary and updated forecasts from the Federal Reserve's policy meeting. Ahead of the looming April 2nd unveiling of reciprocal tariffs, investors were relieved by FOMC projections showing that 11-of-19 policy markets still expect at least two rate cuts this year. Disappointing retail sales data indicated that economic uncertainty is beginning to affect real-world consumer behavior. Housing market data was relatively solid, however, sparking an upward revision to the GDPNow forecast.

REITs bounced back (+1.77%) in February and now have a positive year-to-date total return (+0.79%) after the first two months of the year. Large cap (+4.58%), small cap (+2.00%) and mid cap REITs (+0.98%) performed well in February while micro caps (-1.55%) continued to badly underperform their larger peers. 64.97% of REIT securities had a positive total in February.

In Part 2 of our Earnings Recap, we present a sector-by-sector breakdown of the Winners of REIT Earnings Season, discussing incremental positives/negatives and noting the individual standouts. Healthcare REITs were the leaders this earnings season, with results showing robust momentum in senior housing fundamentals, while tenant operator issues improved across other healthcare sub-sectors. Results from Net Lease, Casino, and Residential Mortgage REITs - several of the most rate-sensitive sectors - were also surprisingly steady despite the interest rate turbulence in late 2024.