Does anyone hold international real estate in their AA?

[Olav23]

I am just wondering if anyone holds international real estate as a slice of their portfolios?

I saw that there is a relatively new ETF called streetTRACKS DJ Wilshire International Real Estate ETF (RWX) ER 0.6%

It looks like it has quite a run-up as of late, as do every other class, but wondered if anyone was actively adding it as a core holding in their allocations.

Just wondering!

 

[kramer]

Hi Olav,

I have not been willing to pay the high expense ratios. I researched this back in the early 2000's when there were fewer options.

Also, there is the tax problem. Most REIT-type dividends are not qualified and the dividends are high, also -- so you pay a lot of taxes in a taxable account. But if you put it into a tax deferred account you lose the foreign tax credit, which is probably another 0.2% drag.

This is actually an important asset class. Real estate is underrepresented in the public markets, and probably more so in foreign and developing markets, respectively.

I have read experts who say about 40% of all real estate price changes are global in nature (as we are seeing now). The rest is more country and region specific.

Kramer

 

[JPatrick]

Check out FIREX as an approach to foreign RE.
I've held it in a couple of accounts since its' inception which has only been a couple of years, but during that time it has done a good job compared to like funds.

 

[HFWR]

I hold 10% of port in IGR. Bit expensive, but still yielding over 6%...

 

[Anansi]

I closed out domestic RE a while back and international is the only thing I have for RE now in my portfolio. IGR and RWF are the only closed end funds I know and I own some of both and they have done very well recently - which may make them expensive now. (They both are also include US as well as foreign REITs).

I have also eased into a small position in RWX which has also done well.

I don't think the ER on any of these is excessive for an international investment. And they have certainly more than covered the cost recently.

 

[bosco]

Check out FIREX as an approach to foreign RE.
I've held it in a couple of accounts since its' inception which has only been a couple of years, but during that time it has done a good job compared to like funds.

ditto

I hold firex (about 1/3 of my RE allocation) and have been very pleased.

 

[bpp]

Not any more. Got rid of both domestic and international RE allocations in the interest of tax efficiency.