MFSI Rebounds to Near-Record Level
During the month of September the MFSI rose by 48 points, or almost 2%. With this increase, the MFSI is at its second highest reading of all time, set just two short months ago, and is almost a full 26% higher than it  was 12 months ago. During the past month, the S&P 500 with dividends also rose, but by just slightly less than 1%, and now finds itself almost 12.5% higher than it was 12 months ago.

Because the MFSI increased by about twice as much as the S&P 500 with dividends during September, the performance gap--or percentage difference--between the two indexes widened from 128% in August to 131% in September, which is just 11 percentage points lower than the high water mark of 142% set in July of this year, and is the second highest recording ever. Despite the very strong 51% rise in the S&P 500 since its low in late 2002, the MFSI has risen a staggering 79% during the same 36 months. In addition, the MFSI continues to dramatically outperform the S&P 500 over longer time periods including the past four, five and six years.

Since December 1998 the MFSI has risen by a whopping 155 percent while the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested has gained a meager 10.7 percent. During the month of June the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of the MFSI eased slightly to 17.74 while the dividend yield, defined as the total cash dividend payments divided by the current stock price, which moves in the opposite direction, barely changed and now stands at 5.49%. The MFSI is an index of 27 publicly traded US headquartered firms, including 23 REITs, principally involved in multifamily ownership and management. [ return to top ]