REIT Index Pauses After Weeks of New Highs

NEW YORK CITY-After two weeks of hitting all-time highs, two in each week, the Morgan Stanley REIT Index (RMS) took a breather last Friday when it closed at 418.52, down from another all-time high of 421.62 the day before. Although the equity indexes rallied on Friday, the RMS is by far the better performer. It is up 14.4% year-to-date, while the Dow is down 3.4%, the S&P 500 is off 10.3% and the Nasdaq has declined 22.4% on a total return basis for the same period, according to the Bear Stearns REIT Monitor.

Mutual funds that specialize in real estate saw net inflows of $81.6 million, up $1.6 million from the week before and the largest weekly total in nearly a year. Total assets moved up $100 million to $12.1 billion; the week before they grew by $300 million from $11.7 billion, the Monitor reports.

The RMS posted a slippage from 6.66% to 6.63% in its average dividend yield at the same time the spread over the S&P 500 moved up to 534 basis points from 532 bps and the spread over the 10-year Treasury slipped from 182 bps to 170 bps.