On Monday, the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged at a record low of 2.5% while recent meeting minutes from the Bank of England indicate a U.K. rate hike may be further off than previously expected. [Low Rates Helping International REIT ETFs]
Rates in Japan and the Eurozone are low and expected to remain that way. It is entirely possible the Federal Reserve raises rates before the European Central Bank or the Bank of Japan. RWX allocates 21.1% to Japan, making it the ETF’s largest country weight. Six Eurozone nations combine for about 14% of the ETF’s weight.
RWX, which charges 0.59% year, is home to 133 stocks and sports a P/E ratio of 20.7 with a price-to-book ratio of 1.18, according to State Street data. RWX’s dividend yield of 4.32% is nearly 90 basis points above the rival Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate ETF (NYSEArca: VNQI).
Over the past year, RWX is up 20.2% compared to an average gain of 16.5% for VNQI and the iShares International Developed Real Estate ETF (NasdaqGM: IFGL).
SPDR Dow Jones International Real Estate ETF
