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REITs See Another Good Year in 2004
According to the company, the index posted a 30.4% gain in 2004. Worldwide real estate stock performance was even better, according to the company, posting 38% gains on the year.
This is slightly below the gains seen in 2003, when the index had its best year since 1976, posting 40% returns (See REITs End Year Nearly 40% Higher ).
Breaking down the index, retail investments performed the best, with regional malls bringing in an average of 40.3% gains on the year. Also notable was the industrial performance, which brought in 35.7% returns. On the lower end of the spectrum, manufactured homes brought in only 2.1% in 2004.
Equity REITs did even better than the basket of all REITs, with the return of diversified equities coming in at 32.56%.
According to a release from NAREIT, expectations for 2005 are not as high. REIT industry analysts are predicting total returns of as low as -10% to as high as 16%, with the average forecast in the 5-10% gain range,” according to the company.
To see a complete breakdown of REIT performance for 2004, please see http://www.nareit.com/nareitindexes/web4.htm .