Buoyed by its second-consecutive month of outperformance, 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).

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) May 13, 2008 -- Buoyed by its second-consecutive month of outperformance, 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 four months of 2008, the FTSE NAREIT All REIT Index was up 5.6 percent, while the FTSE NAREIT Equity REIT Index was up 7.34 percent, as other market benchmarks remained in negative territory to start the year (the Dow Jones Industrials down 3.35 percent, the S&P 500 down 5.03 percent, the Russell 2000 down 6.12 percent, and the NASDAQ Composite down 9.03 percent).
* For the year, Self-Storage (up 23. 83 percent), Apartments (up 14.87 percent) and Shopping Centers (up 10.14 percent) remained the industry’s top-performing sectors.

Income producing real estate is a natural inflation hedge, and REITs provide investors with all of the inflation hedging benefits of the commercial real estate asset class.
* The U.S. inflation rate averaged 4 percent on an annualized basis over the past six months ended April 30, up 60 percent from the 2.5 percent rate for the prior six-month period.
* Increasing inflation favors REIT shares, which provide stronger inflation hedging benefits than TIPS with less volatility than commodities. See charts attached.

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