Barclays launches Int'l REIT ETFs

Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco today launched the first iShare exchange traded fund to invest in international real estate via real estate investment trusts. The iShares S&P World ex-U.S. Property Index Fund (WPS) ha an annual expense ratio of 0.48%, and will complement the seven U.S. real estate iShares ETFs already in existence. “Many U.S. investors have trouble investing in the non-U.S. real estate market due to high costs, lack of liquidity and ways to access it,” Noel Archard, head of U.S. iShares Product Development, said in a statement. “As more REIT and REIT-like structures are created outside of the U.S., BGI expects more individual investors and financial advisors to consider international real estate as an investment.”