Multifamily Stock Index Hits New All-Time High
During the month of June, the MFSI rose by 53 points — almost 3%. With this rise, the MFSI is at an all-time high, surpassing the previous mark of 1,843 set back in March 2004. At present, the MFSI is almost 22% higher than 12 months ago. During the past month the S&P 500 with dividends also rose, but by only 2%, and is now more than 19 percent higher than it was 12 months ago — a performance only slightly weaker than the MFSI.

Because the MFSI rose by one percentage point more than the S&P 500 with dividend reinvested during June, the percentage difference between the two indexes widened from 85% to 87%, a level last seen seven months ago. Despite the consistently strong showing of the S&P 500 over the past year, the MFSI still has marginally outperformed the S&P 500 over the past 12 months. In addition, the MFSI continues to dramatically outperform the S&P 500 over longer periods of time — including the past three, four and five years. Since December 1998 the MFSI has risen by 88%, while the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested has gained only one-half-of-one percent.

¹ For initial article discussing the MFSI in detail see NAHB Multifamily Market Outlook, January 2002.
²  Percent difference is defined as (MFSI minus S&P 500 with dividends)/S&P 500 with dividends.

During the month of June, the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of the MFSI rose from 18.49 to 18.95, while the dividend yield, defined as the total cash dividend payments divided by the current stock price, fell from 6.10% to 5.93%. 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 ]