Mortgage REITs narrowly outpace equity REITs in 2012

REITs outpaced the broader U.S. equity market in 2012 as the FTSE NAREIT All REITs index topped the Russell 3000 by 384 basis points. Mortgage REITs' 19.9% return narrowly edged out the 19.7% return posted by equity REITs. According to data released by NAREIT, mortgage REIT performance was driven by returns of 42.98% in the commercial financing sector and 16.38% returns in the home financing sector.