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Is T. Rowe Price Real Estate (TRREX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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There are plenty of choices in the Sector - Real Estate category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is T. Rowe Price Real Estate (TRREX - Free Report) . TRREX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

TRREX is one of many Sector - Real Estate funds to choose from. Sector - Real Estate mutual funds are known to invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs). A popular income vehicle thanks to its taxation rules, a REIT is required to pay out at least 90% of its income annually to avoid double taxation. This technique makes securities in these funds high dividend players, and even bond-like in some instances, though their risk is similar to equities.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of TRREX. Since T. Rowe Price Real Estate made its debut in February of 1998, TRREX has garnered more than $1.28 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by Nina Jones who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2019.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 5.07%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.78%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. TRREX's standard deviation over the past three years is 20.51% compared to the category average of 16.22%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.95% compared to the category average of 13.51%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.87, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. With a negative alpha of -7.98, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, TRREX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.77% compared to the category average of 1.22%. From a cost perspective, TRREX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price Real Estate ( TRREX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Sector - Real Estate segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


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