FREL vs XLRE

FRELAFidelity MSCI Real Estate Index ETF

XLREAState Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR 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.

XLRE The S&P 500's landlords in one ticker: about 30 large-cap real estate companies, mortgage REITs excluded, for 0.08% a year. It launched in 2015, before real estate was even its own market sector.

Stated mandate

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

XLRE The fund seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the Real Estate Select Sector Index, representing the real estate sector of the S&P 500 Index.

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.

• XLRE 0.08% a year sits at the floor of the real estate peer group, where the median fund charges several times more.
• Clean mandate: S&P 500 real estate management, development and equity REITs, with mortgage REITs left out, so no mortgage paper rides along in a property fund.ssga.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the most actively traded names in its category, which usually shows up as tight spreads when you click buy.
• Running since 2015, arriving before S&P and MSCI split real estate out as its own sector in 2016. Pays quarterly, and ranks among the stronger builds in a crowded lineup.reit.com

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.

• XLRE About 30 holdings, so the largest positions carry real weight and one company's stumble is felt across the fund.
• The S&P 500 sets the universe, so REITs that never reach large-cap index status stay outside the portfolio.ssga.comsec.gov
• This is one slice of the market, moving with the property cycle rather than blending into a broad index.

Full FREL profile⁠

Full XLRE profile⁠