ETFs track FTSE NAREIT indexes

Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco has announced that five iShares exchange traded funds designed to track the FTSE NAREIT Indexes began trading today. The new iShares Funds provide exposure to the U.S. real estate investment trust market. They include the iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential Index Fund, iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office Index Fund, iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Index Fund, iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REITs Index Fund and iShares FTSE NAREIT Real Estate 50 Index Fund. The ETFs all have an expense ratio of 0.48%. “REIT exposure generally offers several useful portfolio attributes, such as lower correlation to the broad equity and bond markets along with higher dividend yield,” Noel Archard, head of iShares Product Development said in a statement. “The iShares FTSE NAREIT Funds should provide investors with income and portfolio diversification benefits, in a cost-effective manner.”