The volatility in REIT's has been breathtaking.
Unfortunately, the yield this quarter (VGSIX) has dropped to about 7.5%, from 11% or so last quarter. REITs have just recently been given permission to provide stock instead of cash dividends. Not all will do so, of course, and when they do, most likely the fund managers would just sell it on the spot and provide cash to you anyway. Most view this change as a negative, though some have argued this is mostly a wash, and it does allow REITs to preserve capital, hence staving off bankruptcy for some (the leverage in REITs is a worry at the moment).
Is it a good buy now, having dropped by more than 70%? No one knows, but the bad news is probably baked into the price already. Commercial real estate tends to trail most other sectors in a recovery, so it may be a number of years before it recovers very significantly.
I've been accumulating some now and then. Be careful not to get burned by the daily volatility - if you buy in a mutual fund, place your orders right before the end of a trading day.