DFGR vs RWX

DFGRADimensional Global Real Estate ETF

RWXDState Street SPDR Dow Jones International Real Estate ETF

In short

DFGR One ticker for the world's landlords: US, developed and emerging-market REITs in a single market-cap-weighted portfolio, traded by Dimensional's desk rather than on an index calendar. Roughly 500 names.

RWX Owning landlords abroad, the old-school way. Since 2006 RWX has tracked a Dow Jones index of listed real estate outside the US: roughly 120 property companies, and not a single American REIT in the mix.

Stated mandate

DFGR The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing broadly in U.S. and non-U.S. companies principally engaged in real estate, including REITs and REIT-like entities.

RWX The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones Global ex-U.S. Select Real Estate Securities Index and provide exposure to the international real estate market.

Why people hold it

• DFGR Fee is 0.21% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027 (0.22% gross), below the category median, though index peers REET (0.14%) and HAUZ (0.10%) charge less.
• Holds US and non-US real estate, developed and emerging markets, in one wrapper. HAUZ and VNQI are ex-US only, so pairing them with a US REIT fund is the usual workaround.sec.gov
• No index to shadow: the prospectus lets Dimensional weight by market cap while flexing trade timing and capping country or issuer exposure.sec.gov
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and it pays distributions quarterly.

• RWX Pure ex-US by design. Its Dow Jones index leaves American REITs out, so it layers on top of a domestic property holding instead of doubling up on it.ssga.com
• Trading since 2006, so its record runs through real property cycles rather than a backtest.
• Roughly 120 listed property companies outside the US, with rent income passed along on a quarterly distribution schedule.
• The portfolio hews closely to the index it names, so the label and the holdings tell the same story.

Worth knowing

• DFGR Single-sector by design, so it moves with property markets and the rates that price them, with roughly 500 names spread across that one sector.
• Foreign REITs mean currency moves land in your return; the fund may use currency forwards for settlement, not to hedge its exposure.sec.gov
• Without a published index to track, there is no simple tracking-difference yardstick, and the waiver expires February 28, 2027, leaving the 0.22% gross fee.sec.gov

• RWX At 0.59% a year it sits above the category median of 0.50%, and well above index rivals HAUZ (0.10%) and VNQI (0.12%).
• It trades thinly next to the category's biggest funds, so bid-ask spreads can run wider, which shows up most on large or hurried orders.
• Global peers like REET and RWO put US and overseas property in one ticker. RWX skips the US on purpose, so it covers a slice of real estate, not the whole map.

Full DFGR profile⁠

Full RWX profile⁠