Hold the top North American REITs

Article Excerpt

The best real estate investment trusts (REITs) have good management and balance sheets strong enough to weather an economic downturn. They also have high-quality tenants. The best ones still do well despite economic slowdowns, and they have also taken advantage of low interest rates to refinance long-term mortgages on favourable terms. Here are two ETFs focused on REITs: One invests in Canada; the other in the U.S. (see the REIT supplement on page 109 for more information.) BMO EQUAL WEIGHT REIT ETF $21.16 (Toronto symbol ZRE; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $514 million) invests in Canadian real estate investment trusts (REITs). It tracks the Solactive Equal Weight Canada REIT Index. The REITs it holds are equally weighted, and the portfolio is rebalanced every six months. The best way to cut your REIT risk is to focus on those with high-quality tenants in a variety of industries The best REITs have broad exposure to many different geographic regions Rising interest rates have hurt REIT…