How much dividend does REIT pay?
Real estate companies generally earn reliable streams of income from long and stable tenant leases, and REITs must distribute at least 90 percent of their taxable income to shareholders as dividends.
The beauty of REITs for income investors is that they are required to distribute 90% of their taxable income to shareholders annually in the form of dividends. In return, REITs typically do not pay corporate taxes. As a result, many of the 200+ REITs we track offer high dividend yields of 5%+.
REIT (Ticker) | Specialty | Forward Dividend Yield |
---|---|---|
Western Asset Mortgage Capital (WMC) | Residential mortgage assets | 15.9% |
Two Harbors Investment (TWO) | Residential mortgage-backed securities | 14.1% |
MFA Financial (MFA) | Residential mortgage assets | 12.6% |
Chimera Investment (CIM) | Mortgage assets | 13.5% |
The FTSE Nareit All REITs index, which tracks the performance of all publicly traded REITs in the U.S., had an average annual total return (dividends included) of 3.58% during the five-year period that ended in August 2023. For the 10-year period between 2013 and 2022, the index averaged 7.48% per year.
Living off dividends means your portfolio generates a passive income stream that can cover your expenses indefinitely. No more punching the clock to earn a paycheck or worrying about your portfolio's fluctuating value as long as the dividends keep rolling in.
- What dividends and REITs are.
- ARMOUR Residential REIT – 20.7%
- Orchid Island Capital – 17.8%
- AGNC Investment – 14.8%
- Oxford Square Capital – 13.7%
- Ellington Residential Mortgage REIT – 13.2%
- SLR Investment – 11.5%
- PennantPark Floating Rate Capital – 10%
Since REITs are required by the IRS to pay out 90% of their taxable income to shareholders, REIT dividends are often much higher than the average stock on the S&P 500. One of the best ways to receive passive income from REITs is through the compounding of these high-yield dividends.
REITs have typically enjoyed strong absolute and relative total return performances after monetary policy tightening cycles end. The valuation divergence between REITs and private real estate will likely converge in 2024, making REITs an attractive option for investors.
The value of a REIT is based on the real estate market, so if interest rates increase and the demand for properties goes down as a result, it could lead to lower property values, negatively impacting the value of your investment.
REIT Distributions
While some stocks distribute dividends on a quarterly or annual basis, certain REITs pay quarterly or monthly. That can be an advantage for investors, whether the money is used for enhancing income or for reinvestment, especially since more frequent payments compound faster.
Can you make a living off REITs?
REITs can have a lot of value to offer investors. They're more liquid than physical properties and can be a steady source of income. They can appreciate (and depreciate) along with the broader real estate market, and allow you to hedge against stock market volatility. But before investing, do your research.
A well-constructed dividend portfolio could potentially yield anywhere from 2% to 8% per year. This means, to earn $3,000 monthly from dividend stocks, the required initial investment could range from $450,000 to $1.8 million, depending on the yield. Furthermore, potential capital gains can add to your total returns.
According to the data, REITs have outperformed stocks over the long term, delivering an 11.9% average annual return from 1972 to 2021 (compared to 10.7% for the S&P 500). At that rate of return, a monthly investment of $300 in REITs would grow into $1 million in about 30 years.
In a market that generates a 2% annual yield, you would need to invest $600,000 up front in order to reliably generate $12,000 per year (or $1,000 per month) in dividend payments.
To generate $5,000 per month in dividends, you would need a portfolio value of approximately $1 million invested in stocks with an average dividend yield of 5%. For example, Johnson & Johnson stock currently yields 2.7% annually. $1 million invested would generate about $27,000 per year or $2,250 per month.
It really depends on what stocks you own and what sort of lifestyle you want. Most stocks only pay maybe 1% or 2% in dividends each year. At 2%, you are going to make about $20,000 on a $1 million investment. That would be difficult to live on comfortably.
If these businesses are unable to increase revenue to offset higher costs, investors might face a dividend cut. Lastly, and possibly the difference most investors are most concerned about, dividend returns. On average, REITs pay higher dividends than dividend stocks.
The average dividend yield on S&P 500 index companies that pay a dividend historically fluctuates somewhere between 2% and 5%, depending on market conditions. 7 In general, it pays to do your homework on stocks yielding more than 8% to find out what is truly going on with the company.
Dividend stock investors like the high yields that REITs offer. And given their recent struggles, REIT stocks look attractive from a valuation perspective today: The real estate stocks that Morningstar covers, as a group, are about 8% undervalued relative to our fair value estimates.
A potential drawback of purchasing non-traded REITs are the high up-front fees. Investors can expect to pay fees, which include commission and fees, between 9 and 10% of the entire investment.
What are the downsides of REITs?
Here are some of the main disadvantages of investing in a REIT. Market volatility: Value can fluctuate based on economic and market conditions. Interest rate risk: Changes in interest rates can affect the value of a REIT.
To the inexperienced, this sounds like guaranteed dividends. There's only one catch: the payouts are not generated from the company's earnings. This largely explains why so many REITs have low payout ratios. In equity research, the payout ratio is the percentage of net income that a company pays out as dividends.
The FTSE Nareit All Equity index, consisting of REITs that exclude mortgages, generated a 15.9% annualized return during recessions and 22.7% in the year following the end of a downturn, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.
What this means is that REITs are ideal borrowers for banks. They are exactly who they want to do business with because they know that the risk of a REIT bankruptcy is extremely low. Just look at the past. There have been very few REIT bankruptcies over the past 50+ years.
They typically provide high dividends plus the potential for moderate, long-term capital appreciation. Long-term total returns of REIT stocks tend to be similar to those of value stocks and more than the returns of lower risk bonds.
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