CHICAGO—Returns for the 7,165 income-producing properties in the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries' universe were off slightly in the third quarter, continuing a trend seen over the past several months. The NCREIF Property Index (NPI) registered a total return of 1.7% for Q3, off from 1.75% in the previous quarter, 1.77% in the year-ago period and 3.09% two years ago.

In terms of the longer-term outlook, NCREIF says the NPI total return remains “modest” and has been “relatively stable,” ranging between 1.55% and 1.77% over the past five quarters. Q3's total return consisted of a 1.14% income return and 0.56% appreciation. Over the past five 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 the 0.4%-to-0.6% range.

For the trailing year, the annual NPI total return was 6.89%, consisting of a 4.66% income return and 2.15% appreciation. For longer-term context, the annualized average total return for the past five years was 10.35% and 6.23% over the past decade.