Arguably the most widely referenced of NCREIF's indices, the NCREIF Property Index (NPI), broke an eight-quarter streak of trending downward in Q2. The council said in late July that the NPI achieved a 1.75% total return in Q2, up from 1.55% in Q1 although below the 2.03% return in the year-ago period.

Q2's total return consisted of a 1.16% income return and 0.59% appreciation, according to NCREIF data. Over the past four quarters, both components of the total return have been relatively stable with the quarterly income return ranging from 1.14% to 1.16% and appreciation in a range of 0.40% to 0.60%.

NCREIF notes that over the past four quarters, cap rates have been leveling out, and spreads near long-term averages suggest fair real estate pricing and insulate values against rising interest rates. The current NPI reflects investment performance for 7,161 commercial properties, totaling $539.2 billion of market value.

CHICAGO—Total returns in the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries' NCREIF Fund Index – Open End (NFI-OE) for the second quarter were down slightly from Q1, according to data released Thursday. The incremental 0.01% quarterly decline compares favorably to other indexes, including NCREIF's own NCREIF Fund Index – Open‐end Diversified Core Equity (NFI-ODCE), which slipped 0.07% from the previous quarter.

The NFI-OE for Q2 totaled 1.89%, including a 1.09% income return and a 0.80% appreciation return. The appreciation component slipped by 0.01% from Q1, while the income return was essentially flat.

An equal-weighted scenario for the index—presented to show what the results would be if all funds were treated equally, regardless of size—would show a slightly steeper quarterly drop, in line with that of the NFI-ODCE. By comparison, the NAREIT Equity Index declined 0.27% from Q1, the Russell 3000 was off 2.72% and the S&P 500 was down 2.98%, while 90-day T-bills were up 0.06%, albeit with a considerably lower rate of return.

Included in the roster of 50-plus funds comprising the NFI-OE are vehicles from AEW Capital Management, Clarion Partners, Guggenheim Real Estate, LaSalle Investment Management and PGIM Real Estate, among others. Together, they comprise approximately $208.9 billion of assets, up from $204.7 billion in Q1.

Arguably the most widely referenced of NCREIF's indices, the NCREIF Property Index (NPI), broke an eight-quarter streak of trending downward in Q2. The council said in late July that the NPI achieved a 1.75% total return in Q2, up from 1.55% in Q1 although below the 2.03% return in the year-ago period.

Q2's total return consisted of a 1.16% income return and 0.59% appreciation, according to NCREIF data. Over the past four quarters, both components of the total return have been relatively stable with the quarterly income return ranging from 1.14% to 1.16% and appreciation in a range of 0.40% to 0.60%.

NCREIF notes that over the past four quarters, cap rates have been leveling out, and spreads near long-term averages suggest fair real estate pricing and insulate values against rising interest rates. The current NPI reflects investment performance for 7,161 commercial properties, totaling $539.2 billion of market value.