FFR News and Press, First Trust FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Fund From 04/05/21

Powered by Spring Break demand and accelerated by the vaccine roll-out, the recovery in domestic leisure travel - and hotel occupancy - has picked up meaningfully over the past month. TSA data showed that travel is now at 60% of pre-pandemic levels after bottoming at less than 5%. STR...

U.S. equity markets rallied to fresh record-highs this past week on data showing faster-than-expected job growth and continued strength behind the housing market while jitters over rising interest rates calmed. Closing the holiday-shortened week at record highs, the S&P 500 gained...

Global growth looks set to rebound even more strongly in 2021 than we had anticipated in our January Cyclical Outlook. Over the next several months, a combination of base effects, recent increases in energy prices, and price adjustments in sectors where activity ramps up is likely to ...

From David to Goliath. Emerging from relative obscurity early last decade, Cell Tower REITs have developed into dominant players of both the telecommunications and real estate sectors through relentless growth. The single largest property sector, three Cell Tower REITs now accoun...

Is Bad News is Good News Again? U.S. equity markets rebounded this past week as lukewarm economic data and renewed COVID concerns halted the surge in interest rates and calmed market jitters. Closing within 1% of record highs, the S&P 500 jumped 1.7% this past week led b...

Upgrades to consensus EPS forecasts have continued apace, further cementing expectations for a V-shaped global growth recovery this year and next. FTSE World estimates for this year have been raised significantly over the past three months (from 15% to 28%), bolstered by upgrades for ...

Riding the tailwinds of the affordable housing shortage across the United States, manufactured housing REITs outperformed the REIT index for a remarkable eighth-straight year in 2020. Pressured by the 'REIT Reopening Rotation,' however, MH REITs have uncharacteristically underperforme...

Equity REITs continued their strong start to 2021 with a +7.74% average total return in February. Small-cap REITs (+10.77%) were the top performers in February, while large caps (+4.10%) saw smaller gains. 80.77% of REIT securities had a positive total return in February. Hote...

The Great Financial Crisis resulted in long-term, lasting pain for the real estate sector, but "this time was different" for most REITs due to harsh lessons learned from past crises. Despite early struggles with rent collection, REITs' strong balance sheets and access-to-capital preve...

Overshadowed by concerns about rising interest rates, a frenzy of real estate earnings reports over the last month have provided critical information on the state of the real estate industry. Roughly two-thirds of the 170 equity REITs in our coverage universe beat consensus FFO estima...