The asset class I'm most excited about recently is foreign real estate. I've been waiting for a mutual fund or ETF to invest in a variety of international real-estate instruments (they are not called REITS in other country, but they are the equivalent to REITS). Let me call these investments: "Intl-REIT"s versus "US-REIT"s, even though in all cases you are investing a basket of REIT-like securities.
I'm a big believer in low cost index funds or ETFs and had been waiting for such a Intl-REIT ETF.
And in late Dec 2006, the first low cost ETF based on Intl-REIT opened up: RWX which tries to mirror the Dow Jones Wilshire International Real Estate index. More information on RWX is at this MarketWatch article. http://etf.seekingalpha.com/article/23080 indicates that roughly 18% of the assets are in each of Australia, the UK and Japan, with other well developed (not emerging market) regions filling out the top 10 countries. I first bought this ETF in Jan and will likely add more to my holdings.
And while it has done freakishly well in the first 4 weeks of 2007, so far, I'm don't put much weight in recent short term performance.
However, there are several Intl-REIT mutual funds that have been around for many years. I probably should have looked harder last year to find these. Anyways, here are some links on other intl real estate mutual funds/ETFs.
1) The Kiplinger's article
www.kiplinger.com/columns/balance/archive/2006/balance1226.html
is a good starting point, as it mentions that Intl-REIT correlates with other investment, including US-stocks, better than you (and I) might have expected. It also mentions several worth while funds. I really like the Cohen & Steers Asia Pacific Real Estate Securities (APFAX), but I'm put off by their 4.5% initial fee. Maybe I can get my financial advisor to lower this.
2) This Smart Money article discusses the three well known Intl-REIT funds. I personally just bought some of the Alpine fund today, largely due to its low expenses and long track record. Also from my brokerage (Schwab), it was no-load (no transaction charge or fee).
3) There are apparently more international real estate ETFs in the works
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment