BiggerPockets Money Podcast · Tuesday, August 11, 2026
While REITs have underperformed the S&P 500 over the last five to twenty years, historical data suggests a different picture over longer periods. According to NAREIT, REITs have provided competitive returns, even slightly outperforming the S&P 500 over the last 50 years, indicating potential for future recovery.
“The last 20 years, especially if you include the last years and you start before the great financial crisis crash, it's been a very poor time period for REITs.”
“What I would say here though is that if you extend this time period to 50 plus years... the returns have been very competitive over the long run, even slightly outperforming the S&P 500 over the past 50 year period, I believe ending in 2023.”