Multifamily Stock Index Hits Highest Level Ever
During November, the MFSI rose by seven points — slightly less than one-half-of-one-percent. With this rise, the MFSI is at its highest value ever recorded and is more than 20% higher than 12 months ago. Since the end of October 2003, the S&P 500 with dividends rose by almost 1%, and is now 15% higher than 12 months ago — a performance five percentage points worse than the MFSI.

Because the MFSI rose half as much as the S&P 500 with dividends during November, the percentage difference between the two indexes declined from 88% to 87%. Even though the gap narrowed, it remains at a level surpassed on only 13 previous occassions. Despite a strong showing by the S&P 500 over the past year, the MFSI continues to outperform the S&P 500 over the past one, two, three, and four-year time time periods. Since December 1998, the MFSI has risen by 73% while the S&P 500 with dividends has fallen by almost 8%.

During the past month, the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of the MFSI rose from 18.11 to 19.20, while the dividend yield, defined as the total cash dividend payments divided by the current stock price, fell from 6.64% to 6.44%  The MFSI is an index of 28 publicly traded US headquartered firms, including 23 REITs, principally involved in multifamily ownership and management. [ return to top ]