DFGR vs SPRE

DFGRADimensional Global Real Estate ETF

SPREDSP Funds S&P Global REIT Sharia 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.

SPRE Real estate runs on borrowed money, which makes it a hard sector to screen for Islamic investors. SPRE takes that job on: a Sharia-screened global equity-REIT index spanning developed and emerging markets, with monthly distributions.

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.

SPRE The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the S&P Global All Equity REIT Shariah Capped Index.

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.

• SPRE A rare way to own listed property worldwide under an Islamic screen. It tracks the S&P Global All Equity REIT Shariah Capped Index, so the screen is written into the mandate, not applied by hand.
• Genuinely global reach: developed and emerging market REITs, not a US-only slice of the sector.
• The index is capped, which keeps any single landlord from swallowing the portfolio.
• Cash comes back monthly rather than quarterly, the cadence income-focused holders tend to prefer.

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

• SPRE 0.50% a year is the price of the screen. Plain-vanilla global REIT trackers such as REET, HAUZ and VNQI run for a fraction of that.
• Screening a debt-heavy sector thins the field, leaving a shorter, more concentrated roster than an unscreened global REIT fund.
• A smaller, moderately traded fund, so trading costs deserve more attention than with the giants of the category.

Full DFGR profile⁠

Full SPRE profile⁠