• U.S. equity markets rallied to fresh record-highs this past week as long-term interest rates and inflation expectations pulled back despite a stellar slate of economic data and corporate earnings reports.
• Concerns over the impact of a temporary safety-related halt of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and ongoing COVID issues in Europe and Asia led to a bid for U.S. Treasuries.
• Real estate equities - particularly the red-hot residential sectors - were among the leaders on a busy week of M&A news. Equity REITs rallied 2.5% while Mortgage REITs gained 1.5%.
• The "animal spirits" are alive in REIT world. Kimco Realty and Weingarten Realty announced a merger to become the largest open-air shopping center REIT while Public Storage announced a major $1.8B acquisition.
• The red-hot housing industry - which has been a continued leader of the early economic recovery - showed signs of continued strength this week as Housing Starts climbed to the strongest rate in nearly 15 years.

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Disclosure: A complete list of holdings and Real Estate and Housing Index definitions and holdings are available at HoyaCapital.com. Hoya Capital Real Estate advises an Exchange Traded Fund listed on the NYSE. Hoya Capital is long all components in the Hoya Capital Housing 100 Index.

Additional Disclosure: It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Index performance cited in this commentary does not reflect the performance of any fund or other account managed or serviced by Hoya Capital Real Estate. Data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. Information presented is believed to be factual and up-to-date, but we do not guarantee its accuracy.