RDOG vs XLRE

RDOGBALPS REIT Dividend Dogs ETF

XLREAState Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF

In short

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.

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

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.

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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 RDOG profile⁠

Full XLRE profile⁠