REIT Performance
The coronavirus-induced stock market collapse, which began on February 24th, accelerated during March and sent stocks dramatically lower. The REIT sector saw even more severe losses than the broader market. After suffering back to back declines in January and February, the average REIT fell much further in March with a total return of -28.79%. This amounts to a devastating first quarter loss of -33.39%. The REIT sector badly underperformed the NASDAQ (-10.12%), S&P 500 (-12.51%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (-13.74%) in March. The market cap weighted Vanguard Real Estate ETF