SCHH vs XLRE

SCHHASchwab U.S. REIT ETF

XLREAState Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF

In short

SCHH Landlord exposure at a rounding-error price. SCHH owns the US equity REIT market, roughly 120 of them, for 0.07% a year, a fraction of what the typical real estate fund charges.

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

SCHH The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, an index of U.S. equity-classified real estate investment trusts.

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

• SCHH 0.07% a year undercuts every major broad REIT rival: VNQ at 0.13%, USRT, FREL and XLRE at 0.08%, against a 0.37% category median.
• Straight-up landlords. The index covers US equity-classified REITs, the companies that own and rent property, not the wider real estate services trade.schwabassetmanagement.com
• It hugs its index about as closely as anything in the broad US REIT group, one of the strongest implementations among its peers.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades heavily, which keeps spreads tight for retail-size orders and has done since its 2011 launch.

• 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

• SCHH One sector, about 120 names. It moves with property markets and interest rates, not the broad market, so the ride is bumpier than a total-market fund.
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly, which matters if you budget off distributions.
• US only, and equity REITs only: no overseas property and no mortgage REITs in the mix.schwabassetmanagement.com

• 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 SCHH profile⁠

Full XLRE profile⁠