Exchange-traded funds that track real-estate stocks are surprising Wall Street analysts with their outperformance, but second-quarter earnings reports could dampen the rally, according to this morning's Wall Street Journal Fund Track article . Fundsters interested in getting in on the real estate action may want to check out the rest of the article.

The SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF was reportedly up 15 percent year-to-date through July 29, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF was in negative territory with a loss of some one percent, according to Morningstar.

The largest ETF by assets tracking U.S. real-estate stocks is the Vanguard REIT ETF, which manages some $5.6 billion and offers a "razor-thin" expense ratio of 0.13 percent, according to the article. Another popular option, iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index Fund, manages some $2.7 billion and charges fees of 0.48 percent.

The article suggest that investors' appetite for yields may also be lifting REITs, and some companies have raised dividends after cutting or eliminating them during the credit crunch. 

Edited by: Hung Tran


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