Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF

KBWY

Market cap $242M

Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF remains a sell due to poor performance and unsustainable dividend payouts amid high-interest rates. KBWY's concentrated focus on small- and mid-cap REITs leaves it vulnerable to elevated borrowing costs, resulting in sharp declines for top holdings. Despite a high 9.7% yield, KBWY's income generation is insufficient to support distributions, with declining payouts and inconsistent earnings history.

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The Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF (KBWY) made its debut on 12/02/2010, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Real Estate ETFs category of the market.

For nearly five decades, US REITs have delivered stronger returns than broad US stocks in the 12 months following Federal Reserve easing cycles. Rate cuts may increase the attractiveness of REIT dividends, potentially making them a compelling option for investors seeking yield potential and portfolio diversification. Data centers, telecom infrastructure, and health care REITs have historically benefited the most from lower rates due to long-duration leases and capital-intensive models.

U.S. equity markets snapped a four-week winning streak, while benchmark interest rates rose as investors parsed a surprisingly strong slate of economic data, including a two-year high for GDP growth. The Citi Economic Surprise Index has completed a volatile round-trip this month, plunging in early September ahead of the Fed rate decision before rebounding sharply in recent weeks. The recent trend has echoed patterns during the prior Fed easing in late 2024, when mid-year weakness prompted a policy pivot that was subsequently cut short by a late-year economic rebound.

U.S. equity markets notched another series of record highs this past week after the Federal Reserve resumed its rate-cutting cycle following a nine-month pause and affirmed a "cautiously dovish" pivot. The Fed's decision to lower rates by a quarter point to 4.25% carried surprising unity following months of contentious political maneuvering, with all 12 members backing a rate cut. A bit unsettling for policymakers, longer-term yields rose this week, driven primarily by surprisingly solid retail sales and a dip in initial jobless claims that reversed a prior-week surge.

REITs performed very well in August (+5.48%), almost pulling the REIT sector's year-to-date total return back into the black (-1.11%). Small cap (+7.52%) and mid cap REITs (+7.13%) averaged strong gains in August while large caps (+3.16%) and micro caps (+0.87%) averaged more modest returns. 83.87% of REIT securities had a positive total return in August.

Three years of persistent rate-driven pressure on the residential and commercial real estate market appears to finally be abating - and not a moment too soon. REITs were hit by a "triple whammy" of rate-related headwinds: higher borrowing costs directly squeezed profitability, eroded the relative appeal of REIT dividends, and made it near-impossible to grow accretively. Since the Fed's initial rate hike in March 2022, REITs have lagged the S&P 500 by a whopping 55 percentage points, nearly 3x the magnitude of underperformance seen in the GFC.

U.S. equity markets climbed to fresh record highs this past week after relatively benign inflation data and weak employment data cleared the path for the Fed to resume rate cuts. While CPI and PPI readings continued to show a modest reacceleration in price pressures from their post-pandemic lows earlier this year, both remained "cool enough" to permit a policy pivot. The Fed is widely expected to cut reference rates by 25 basis points to a 4.25% upper bound, which follows a nine-month "pause" since the last reduction last December.