BMO Equal Weight REITs Index

ZRE-T

VNQ-N in the US is a read on the index in the US. It has been in a pretty reliable trading range for a year or so but we broke out of it. Then look at ZRE-T and it is a different picture. There is much more risk in the Canadian REITs here. Even with a dovish rate increase he does not think you want to buy it here. You need a more significant dip here to buy it. He prefers below $19.

He likes it when the risk adjusted returns are attractive. Friday he sold REITs in his dividend fund. If it gets below $18, it would be attractive again because of the yield.

The REITs market is very subject to interest rates. If you are buying into REITs, you have to be aware that there has been a big explosion in real estate, however you have managers that know what they are doing. If you want to be in the sector, it has a good rate of return. Just be a little cautious and don’t go nuts.

REITs are little bit on the cheap side compared to world indexes, but he does not think they are good value. The interest rates going into next year are too high. He does not like the market risk overall. He likes the sector for the dividend, but not for the total return. It is attractive if you don’t mind the volatility risk short term.

(Market Call Minute.) He generally thinks that REITs are great. Have increased recently, but have been undervalued for a long time. Feels they may pull back in the short term, and he would Buy on the dip.

Equal rate REIT ETF. He has said for the last year and a half that they had downside risk, but now he is at maximum position in REITs in his dividend fund. In the last month or so he has been adding every time it has been getting weak. This is one of the ones he holds.

REITs. Real Estate fundamentals are solid in most office and commercial properties. There is some stress from the energy sector. His max exposure is 12.5% in his funds. Today he is at that level because he sees a lot of relative value.

RioCan (REI.UN-T) or BMO Equal Weight REITs Index (ZRE-T)? They are not too different. This has relatively large weightings in some of the large REITs, and they all tend to move in the same direction when the sector sells off. While he likes RioCan very much, he thinks this one is a little bit better because it is a diversified basket.

REITs are a good play in the summer. Usually you get falling rates during the summer. Investors want to be less correlated and reduce their risks to equities, and often trend towards the bond markets. From March to May is the 1^st period of seasonal strength for REITs, and then June through August is the next period. The chart on this one shows the rising trend line pushing up towards resistance, and eventually you would expect a break out, which is a bullish resolution.

When you look at the real estate market, you want to look at where interest rates are moving. In Canada we had a bit of a curve ball with the interest rate drop. REITs are still looking somewhat attractive to yield hungry investors. This particular one gives you a pretty decent yield in the 3%-4% area. Watch for when rates eventually start moving higher.

REITs. ZRE-T which is equally weighted is his preference. It is starting to get interesting to him on a risk adjusted basis. He wants to buy more if it gets lower because he likes the dividend.

(Top Pick Sep 26/13, Up 11.14%) At that time he felt there was risk of a rate increase further.

This sector is going into a correction phase by mid-next year.