Despite hitting a trough in February, the FTSE NAREIT All REIT Index has soundly outperformed other major market benchmarks so far in 2008, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Washington, D.C. (Vocus) June 10, 2008 -- Despite hitting a trough in February, the FTSE NAREIT All REIT Index has soundly outperformed other major market benchmarks so far in 2008, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). Consider the following points:


- Through the first five months of 2008, the FTSE NAREIT All REIT Index was up 6.46 percent, while the FTSE NAREIT Equity REIT Index was up 8.17 percent, as other market benchmarks remained in negative territory to start the year (the NASDAQ Composite down 4.89 percent, the Dow Jones Industrials down 4.72 percent, the S&P 500 down 3.80 percent, and the Russell 2000 down 1.81 percent).
- For the year, Self-Storage (up 21.09 percent), Residential (up 15.60 percent) and Diversified (up 12.49 percent) remained the industry’s top-performing sectors.

In addition, the REIT downturn of 2007 and early 2008 mirrored the duration and severity of the downturn in 1989-1990. Having reached a trough in February, the REIT market has steadily risen the past three months.

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