International Real Estate's First ETF

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International Real Estate Gets Its Very Own ETF [Wall Street Journal]

Summary: State Street Corp.'s State Street Global Advisors recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch an exchange-traded fund based on real-estate securities in 23 countries; until now all the real-estate ETFs in the U.S. market followed domestic stocks. The filing doesn't say what annual fees will be; analysts say they would be surprised if it were more than 0.6% of assets. The fund will own no U.S. stocks, following the Dow Jones Wilshire exUS Real Estate Securities Index: The index returned 33% over the past three years, 23% over the past five years and 9% over the past 10, but since it was only introduced in March, its numbers are based almost entirely on hypothetical back-tests and not actual results. Despite boasting holdings in 23 countries, nearly 60% are concentrated in just three: Australia (20%), the United Kingdom (19%), and Japan (18%). The top nine countries comprise more than 90% of the index's overall value.
Related links: StateStreet's 16 (Proposed) ETFs • Beware New Real Estate Investment Products • REIT ETFs -- Comparative Analysis • As Housing Falls, REITs Rise • REITs: These Few Should Outperform • REITs: High Valuation, Questionable Value
Potentially impacted stocks and ETFs: State Street Corp. (STT), Dow Jones & Company Inc. (DJ) • ETFsstreetTRACKS Wilshire REIT (RWR), Vanguard REIT Index VIPERs (VNQ), iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate ETF (IYR), iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors ETF (ICF), CBRE Realty Finance Inc. (CBF)

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[ETF Guy]

I don't have a subscription to the WSJ, but I read on another blog that this ETF wasn't buying in to REITs, but rather in real estate management companies. Do you know anything about this?