(Read More: The Other Housing Recovery: Agents’ Pay)

“Physical real estate is attracting institutional investors because there is a positive spread between how much it costs to finance real estate versus the income generated,” added Goldfarb.

On a total return basis, the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index gained 5.80 percent in April and the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index gained 6.33 percent, while the SP 500 was up 1.93 percent.

While almost all sectors of U.S. REITs have delivered double-digit gains year-to-date, some are outshining others. Health care was the industry’s top-performing major sector, with a 23.77 percent total return, according to the NAREIT report. Lodging was up 17.51 percent, and retail was up 17.34 percent, led by shopping centers.

An improving economy is clearly sending consumers back on vacation and back to the malls. Health care has been a consistent leader, as Baby Boomers fuel the aging population.

(Read More: Map: Tracking the US Real Estate Recovery)

A product of the real estate recovery, Mortgage REITs were up nearly 19 percent and Home Financing REITs were up over 17 percent. Commercial financing is driving much of the former, but these sectors are benefitting from a potential thaw in mortgage credit in residential as well.

“There are signs that conditions are beginning to loosen,” according to analysts at Capital Economics, who also noted that mortgage demand is on the rise.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100734766

(Read More: The Other Housing Recovery: Agents’ Pay)

“Physical real estate is attracting institutional investors because there is a positive spread between how much it costs to finance real estate versus the income generated,” added Goldfarb.

On a total return basis, the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index gained 5.80 percent in April and the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index gained 6.33 percent, while the SP 500 was up 1.93 percent.

While almost all sectors of U.S. REITs have delivered double-digit gains year-to-date, some are outshining others. Health care was the industry’s top-performing major sector, with a 23.77 percent total return, according to the NAREIT report. Lodging was up 17.51 percent, and retail was up 17.34 percent, led by shopping centers.

An improving economy is clearly sending consumers back on vacation and back to the malls. Health care has been a consistent leader, as Baby Boomers fuel the aging population.

(Read More: Map: Tracking the US Real Estate Recovery)

A product of the real estate recovery, Mortgage REITs were up nearly 19 percent and Home Financing REITs were up over 17 percent. Commercial financing is driving much of the former, but these sectors are benefitting from a potential thaw in mortgage credit in residential as well.

“There are signs that conditions are beginning to loosen,” according to analysts at Capital Economics, who also noted that mortgage demand is on the rise.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100734766

As our week-long Spring Realty Check draws to a close here in Chicago, I’m struggling to come up with a fundamental conclusion.

The trouble of course is that the Spring season isn’t over, and the housing and mortgage markets are facing so many unknowns that any conclusion would be ridiculous.

The one thing I can surmise, after talking to real estate industry types from Boston to Seattle and in between, is that housing is not roaring back right now, and may in fact be double-dipping,

We’ve already seen home prices take a turn for the worse again, but sales seemed to be picking up in January. Unfortunately that may have been short-lived. While all real estate is local, the sales numbers are not encouraging. RE/MAX just reported February home sales down 3 percent annually.

“This is the first time in four months that the year-to-year sales difference was not better than the previous month,” according to the report. Sales were up month to month, but not by much.

New construction isn’t faring much better. The home builders reported a slight tick up in sentiment this week, but that was all based on future expectations, not current sales and traffic.

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Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42151548?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS