HAUZ - Santa Delivers Special REIT Dividends

• U.S. equity markets extended their vaccine-driven rally despite the ongoing stimulus stalemate as encouraging vaccine developments, strong housing data, and a dovish Fed lifted equity markets to fresh records.
• Finishing just below its intra-week record-highs, the S&P 500 gained 0.8% this past week but was again outpaced by the continued resurgence of the Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indexes.
• Despite a fresh wave of dividend increases and early success in vaccine distribution, the COVID-sensitive property sectors were under pressure this week as 11 of 18 REIT sectors finished lower.
• Three more equity REITs and six mortgage REITs raised their dividend this week. 50 equity REITs have now boosted their dividends in 2020 above pre-pandemic levels while 67 have cut or suspended.
• A busy slate of housing data and earnings reports indicated that the red-hot housing industry - which has been the backbone of the economic recovery - has exhibited few signs of cooling into the winter months.

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