iShares Cohen & Steers Price, Forecast, Insider, Ratings, Fundamentals & Signals

REITs experienced a 26% drop in prices due to rising interest rates, creating opportunities for investors. Despite the overall decline, many REIT sectors, such as industrial, multifamily, and manufactured housing, showed strong FFO/share growth. The market pricing of REITs did not align with their fundamental performance, creating mispricing in sectors like retail, towers, and self-storage.

U.S. equity markets rebounded from their worst weekly decline in a year despite a continued uplift in benchmark interest rates, as a solid start to earnings season counteracted disappointing economic data. Ahead of the Fed's policy meeting in the week ahead, markets were confounded - albeit temporarily - by a "jarring" GDP report that showed a return of "stagflationary" trends. Defying the macro headwinds to post its best week since November, the S&P 500 rallied 2.8% on the week - erasing essentially all of its declines in the prior week.

iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF is a fixed-income exchange-traded fund. The vehicle focuses on REIT equity and has a passive investment approach. The fund tracks the Cohen & Steers Realty Majors Index, meaning it holds the same assets as the index and doesn't try to outperform it through active management. REITs have been negatively impacted by rising interest rates in 2024. ICF's performance reflects this, with a total return down over 8% year-to-date.

REITs bounced back from a rough start to the year with a strong +3.26% average total return in March. Mid cap (+5.04%), small cap (+3.90%) and large cap REITs (+2.32%) averaged gains in March, while micro caps (-0.32%) saw yet another month in the red. 78.06% of REIT securities had a positive total return in March.

U.S. equity markets declined this week while benchmark interest rates jumped to the highest level since November after stronger-than-expected employment data showed robust hiring trends in early 2024. Stagflation has crept back into the economic discussion over the past several weeks amid a resurgence in oil prices alongside economic data showing stubbornly lukewarm inflationary trends. Following two straight weeks of gains which had lifted the benchmark to record-highs, the S&P 500 declined by 0.9% this week. Real estate equities were among the laggards this week.

REITs fell slightly deeper into the red in 2024 with a -0.81% total return in February. Mid cap (+1.46%) and large cap REITs (+1.04%) averaged gains in February outperforming small caps (-1.33%) and micro caps (-6.98%). Only 50.64% of REIT securities had a positive total return in February.

How REITs have fared through high interest rate environment. Takeaways from REITs earnings season so far. When rate cuts do come, some REIT sectors may stand to benefit.

U.S. equity markets notched another week of gains after a busy slate of economic data and corporate earnings results were broadly consistent with a "soft landing" trend for the domestic economy. Ahead of the Federal Reserve's first policy meeting of 2024, the FOMC's favored inflation gauge - Core PCE - showed a "2-handle" for the first time in nearly two years. Notching a series of record highs through the week, the S&P 500 advanced 1.2%, extending its impressive rally since late October to 12 of the past 13 weeks.

U.S. equity markets posted another week of gains as investors weighed conflicting indications on economic momentum and the need for rate cuts, with strong economic data offsetting soft corporate earnings. Swaps markets are now pricing in roughly 45% probability that the Federal Reserve will begin its rate-cutting cycle in March, down from odds of over 80% in the prior week.

The REIT sector closed the year out strong with a +11.40% total return in December, pushing into positive territory for the full year (+8.66%). Small cap REITs (+13.39%) outperformed in December. Large cap REITs (+9.55%) averaged a lower return than their smaller peers. 90.79% of REIT securities had a positive total return in December with 66.25% in the black for the full year.