The New 11th Sector & What ETFs to Play

Real estate has always been considered an “alternative” asset class within the financial sector. But the real estate sector has matured over the past several years, and that classification is changing. The S&P Dow Jones Indexes and MSCI recently announced the addition of the Real Estate sector as the 11th headline sector under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), effective August 31, 2016. In this article, we will look at the implications of the change and the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that could be most affected.