Investing September 13, 2026 0 Comments

What History Teaches Us About Today’s REIT Fears—And How Smart Investors Can Profit from the Panic

You know, REITs—those real estate investment trust things—have been getting slammed so hard lately that many folks think they’ve always been underperformers. But hold on—before you write them off as the market’s punching bag, take a peek at this eye-opening chart comparing REITs against major equity indexes that have been flexing some muscle recently. From the MSCI World to Emerging Markets and the S&P Global REITs, the battle lines are drawn, and the numbers from 2001 through 2026 tell a story that might just challenge what you think about “boring” real estate investments. Are we just suffering the classic case of forgetting yesterday’s wins because today’s results look bleak? Or is it time to rethink which asset class really deserves the crown? Let’s dive into the rollercoaster ride of REITs versus equities and see why the grass might not always be greener on the MSCI World side. LEARN MORE

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Apparently REITs returns have been so shit that some investors think they have always been shit.

Well, here is a chart of REITs versus the Indexes which… recently you would acknowledge that have done well:

I added MSCI World, All Country World IMI, Emerging Markets, World Small Cap against S&P Global REIT, and S&P Asia Pacific REIT so that you can contrast the REIT and equity market performance.

From 1 Jan 2001 to August 2026 here are the annualized performance:

MSCI World: 7.5% p.a. [545%]
MSCI ACWI IMI: 7.7% p.a. [574%]
MSCI Emerging Markets: 9.2% p.a. [851%]
MSCI World Small Cap: 9.4% p.a. [893%]
S&P Global REIT: 7.2% p.a. [497%]
S&P Asia Pacific REIT: 7.6% p.a. [554%]

We been so far remove from good performance of REITs that people think they are some weak shit.

I bet that if you are recommending MSCI World for a long time, you would struggle because they been so shit compare to the REITs.

And now its the REIT’s turn to look shit.

So will there be a time when MSCI World looks shit? A lot of people think it is unlikely but its more of hoping than respecting actual base rates.

Here’s how the same indexes look from 2001 to 2015:

Imagine investing for 16 years and you see MSCI World do this and the REITs do that.

MSCI World: 4% p.a.
S&P Asia Pacific REIT: 10% p.a.

What would you invest in honestly?

REITs or MSCI World?

Most of you seeing this would invest in REITs.

And so now you see REITs go to shit. So maybe now if we play this game again, you would choose MSCI World.

Time for MSCI World to go to shit?

If you look at REIT returns and feel like squirming, remember that feeling. There will come a time when you will squirm at some parts or your entire portfolio.

If you don’t dare to recommend a portfolio with REITs in there to people, that’s okay. But remember that one day, you will also faced the same feeling for your portfolio if they go nowhere for 4-5 years.

Lastly, if you are interested in the rolling x-year returns of Global REITs, here’s a table showing the returns.

You would realize they could passed off as MSCI World’s returns:

S&P Global REIT total rolling returns over different time frames.

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