BLDG vs VNQI

BLDGDCambria Global Real Estate ETF

VNQIAVanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate ETF

In short

BLDG Most real estate ETFs buy the biggest landlords by market cap and stop there. Cambria goes global and active instead: US, developed and emerging-market property companies screened on value, quality and momentum, then about 80 of them held.

VNQI Everything outside the US property market in one ticker: roughly 700 REITs, landlords and developers across 30-plus countries, developed and emerging, for 0.12% a year.

Stated mandate

BLDG The Fund is actively managed and invests primarily in domestic and foreign real-estate companies selected for favorable value, quality, and momentum metrics.

VNQI The Fund seeks to track the S&P Global ex-U.S. Property Index, an index of international real estate stocks in developed and emerging markets. It generally uses full replication and invests at least 80% of assets in index securities.

Why people hold it

• BLDG One ticker covers US, developed international and emerging-market real estate, not just domestic REITs.
• Actively picked on value, quality and momentum, so the largest landlord doesn't automatically become the largest position.
• 0.59% expense ratio, below the median for its actively managed US equity peer group.
• Live since 2020, pays on a quarterly schedule, and holds roughly 80 names rather than a few concentrated bets.

• VNQI At 0.12% a year, it costs about a quarter of the typical global real estate fund and lands within two basis points of the cheapest in its peer group (HAUZ, 0.10%).
• Full replication across roughly 700 names in more than 30 countries, so no single Tokyo landlord or Sydney mall owner carries the portfolio.vanguard.com
• The benchmark reaches past pure REITs into companies that own, manage and develop property, which is how it covers markets where the REIT structure barely exists.spindices.com
• Trading since 2010 and one of the tighter index trackers in its cohort, which is the whole job for a fund like this.

Worth knowing

• BLDG Thinly traded. Light volume can mean wider spreads between what you pay and what the shares are worth.
• Foreign property companies add currency movement on top of real estate movement.
• One sector, run by human judgment: outcomes track the managers' screens and the property cycle, not a broad market index.

• VNQI Currency exposure is unhedged, so moves in the dollar against the yen, euro and other local currencies feed straight into results.vanguard.com
• Emerging markets and China-linked property companies are in the mix, a risk set the prospectus calls out separately from developed-market investing.vanguard.com
• Distributions land annually or semiannually rather than monthly, so the income arrives in lumps.

Full BLDG profile⁠

Full VNQI profile⁠