Hold Canada’s top REITs

Article Excerpt

ISHARES S&P/TSX REIT INDEX ETF, $13.33, is a hold. The ETF (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) lets you tap all 19 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX REIT Index. Investors pay a reasonable MER of 0.61%, and the REIT fund gives you a high 7.1% yield. The ETF’s top holdings are Canadian Apartment REIT (16.3%), Allied REIT (12.6%), RioCan REIT (11.6%), Choice Properties (7.1%), Granite REIT (6.8%), H&R REIT (5.5%), SmartCentres REIT (5.5%), Northview Apartment REIT (4.6%), Cominar REIT (3.9%), and InterRent REIT (3.7%). Beyond those top holdings, investors also have exposure to Killam REIT (3.5%), Northwest Healthcare REIT (3.0%), Dream Industrial (2.9%), Crombie REIT (2.5%), Dream Office REIT (2.4%), Summit Industrial REIT (2.2%), Artis REIT (2.1%), Boardwalk REIT (1.9%) and CT REIT (1.8%). We like some of the 19 REITs this ETF holds, but there are others we don’t view as buys. buys…