REITs

Cohen & Steers, an asset manager specializing in real estate, predicts that U.S. REITs will boost dividends by 10% a year for the next five years.

Home sales and housing starts began turning up in early 2009, according to the State of the Nation’s Housing report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. First-time buyers and government help drove an increase in existing home sales, while record foreclosures continued.

REITs continue to beat the S&P 500, according to NAREIT, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. In the first half of 2011, U.S. REITs were up almost 10%, compared to 6% for the S&P 500.

IndexIQ this week launched a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) for investors looking for exposure to small-cap real estate stocks and real estate investment trusts (REITs).

The difference between non-traded and private REITs depends on the real estate objective. Private REITs are Regulation D private placement offerings, which do not require a public registration filing. The shares can only be purchased by accredited investors and typically offer the potential for larger overall returns.

Some financial planners take a strategic approach to REITs while others use them tactically, with some seeking the best of both worlds

ING Group, the Dutch-based financial services institution, said today that it has decided to sell the “majority” of its ING Real Estate Investment Management businesses in two separate transactions worth more than $1 billion.

The U.S. has the most REITs, but the emerging markets are drawing more interest from investors.

REITs staged a major comeback in 2010 after two bad years. What's in store for the sector this year?

The latest report from LoanPerformance, released this week, showed another notable decline in November, with prices down 5% from the recent peak in May.

With the two launches, Schwab now has a total of 13 equity and fixed income ETFs.

By comparison, the S&P 500 rose 15.06%.

A new report from Standard & Poor’s shows that home prices and annual growth rates have declined from earlier this year, pointing to a double-dip.

Fixed-income investors are exercising patience these days, with slow-moving rates that are expected to edge up slightly in 2011.

It may be too late to capture the sector's rebound, but these real estate vehicles still offer an uncorrelated combination of income and appreciation.

With the continued growth of the global real estate crisis, debt from the economic collapse in the sector could be a diamond in the rough for the institutional masses, Mercer said Wednesday.

“Everything feels better than it did 12 to 18 months ago, but not as good as it did three to six months ago,” he said during a lunch time interview with Charlie Rose on Monday at SIFMA's annual conference in New York City.

Although there were sharp disagreements at a Treasury Department conference Tuesday about what kind of role the government should take in the future of housing finance, one idea in particular seems to be gaining momentum: creating an insurance fund to back mortgage-backed securities. future-of-housing-finance

By hiring seasoned industry professional Joyce T. Shapiro, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors (FTREA) believes it has found a way to hedge against inflation and deliver reliable income.

Non-traded real-estate investment trusts found favor last year with investors looking for dividend income without stock market volatility.