Larry Berman CFA, CMT, CTA iShares Global Real Estate ETF CGR-T WEAK BUY Apr 08, 2013

He normally doesn’t follow this. One of his concerns with REITs is interest rates. If you like the real estate sector and you want to do it on a global basis; he doesn’t see anything wrong with it. This is something that he normally doesn’t follow.

He sees no problem in buying this ETF. (Doesn’t know if the dividend is safe.)

Don’t go beyond your chosen percent weighting. The MER is .65%, which is quite high. It is concentrated into about 10 different REITs. We have had ultra low interest rates for a long time and REITs do well in this environment. It is trading at lofty prices right now. He would not want to add any more here.

This is not bad, in terms of the structure. The only thing is that fees are higher than some of the others. However not a bad one to play because it does give you diversification which he likes.

A REIT ETF? He prefers equal-weight, but consider global, CGR, which is exposed to 85 countries. XRE is a stand-by name for Canada. You can buy Canada but also hold CGR for diversity.

CGR is a global REIT play. ZRE is an equal-weight REIT play. VRE is market-cap weighted.

There isn't a right way, one's not better than another. Looking back in history, in Canada the equal weight has been better than market-cap weighted. That's as a result of some of the smaller REITs doing better than some of the larger ones. Domestic REITs have better tax treatment than global ones. So it depends on whether you're investing in a Canadian taxable account or not. There are a lot of great global REIT dividend plays, but you have to consider the foreign withholding tax.

Any one of these is a great vehicle, but which one will depend on an individual investor's need for exposure and tax situation.