FREL vs RDOG

FRELAFidelity MSCI Real Estate Index ETF

RDOGBALPS REIT Dividend Dogs ETF

In short

FREL Fidelity's take on US real estate: one index, about 150 property stocks, and a 0.08% fee against a 0.37% category median. Cheap beta on landlords, and one of the strongest implementations in its peer group.

RDOG Most real estate ETFs just buy the sector by size. RDOG flips it: the highest-yielding REITs inside each of nine property segments, weighted equally, so the biggest landlords don't automatically run the portfolio.

Stated mandate

FREL The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the MSCI USA IMI Real Estate Index.

RDOG RDOG seeks to replicate the performance of the S-Network REIT Dividend Dogs Index before fees and expenses. It selects high-yielding US REITs across nine equally weighted REIT segments.

Why people hold it

• FREL 0.08% a year against a 0.37% median for US real estate funds. Among the category's leaders, only SCHH runs cheaper, and only by a basis point.
• Tracks the MSCI USA IMI Real Estate Index tightly, with very little drift from the benchmark it promises to follow.
• Plain vanilla plumbing: a 1940 Act index fund holding about 150 US real estate stocks. No leverage, no options overlay, cash paid out quarterly.
• Trading since 2015 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund with Fidelity's index desk behind it.

• RDOG The "dogs" method is the whole point: take the top-yielding REITs in each of nine property segments and equal-weight them, so no mega-cap landlord dominates.alpsfunds.com
• Roughly 50 REITs spread evenly across nine segments of the property market, so one hot corner of real estate can't quietly become the whole fund.
• 0.35% a year sits just under the typical fund in its real estate group, which is modest for a rules-based yield screen rather than a plain market-cap tracker.
• Live since 2008, it has stayed close to its S-Network REIT Dividend Dogs Index, among the tighter implementations in its peer group, and it pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• FREL One sector, one country. US real estate can move on its own schedule for long stretches, and this fund rides every bit of that.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume leader in the category, which can show up as wider bid-ask spreads.
• Crowded shelf. SCHH, VNQ, USRT and XLRE cover similar ground at similar prices, so the real difference is which index each one follows.

• RDOG Thin trading and a small asset base mean bid-ask spreads can run wider than the household-name REIT trackers.
• Screening for the fattest yields tilts the basket toward higher-payout, often smaller REITs, historically a bumpier ride than the cap-weighted sector.
• Cost is the trade-off against plain vanilla: SCHH charges 0.07% and VNQ 0.13% for cap-weighted US real estate.

Full FREL profile⁠

Full RDOG profile⁠