Multifamily Stock Index — A New Record High
During the month of February, the MFSI rose by 22 points — slightly more than 1%. With this slight rise, the MFSI is at its highest value ever recorded and is almost 28% higher than it was 12 months ago. Since the end of November 2003, the S&P 500 with dividends rose by almost 9%, and is almost 40% higher than it was 12 months ago — a performance 12 percentage points better than the MFSI. Because the MFSI rose by slightly less than the S&P 500 with dividend reinvested during February, the percentage difference between the two indexes declined from 78.2% to 77.9%, a level last seen 16 months ago. Due to the consistently strong showing of the S&P 500 over the past year, the S&P has outperformed the MFSI over the past 12 months. However, the MFSI continues to dramatically outperform the S&P 500 over the past two, three, four and five year time time periods. Since December 1998, the MFSI has risen by 79% while the S&P 500 with dividends has risen by less than 1%. 

During the past month, the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of the MFSI eased slightly from 18.26 to 17.84, while the dividend yield, defined as the total cash dividend payments divided by the current stock price, fell from 6.25% to 6.24% 

 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 ]