Best Real Estate Stocks

Owning a single rental property is great. But what if you could get most of the advantages of real estate investing by simply choosing the best real estate stocks for your portfolio? Real estate stocks are stocks related to the real estate market -- they might be real estate investment trusts (REITs), homebuilders, or real estate companies, but they are all in the industry.

There are many advantages to owning real estate stocks over real property, especially when it comes to eliminating the hassle of hands-on management. But there are a lot of real estate stocks to choose from, too. So, how can you even begin to pick among them?

3. Lennar

Lennar (LEN -1.04%) is one of the largest builders of single-family homes in the U.S. It reported revenues of $35.4 billion in 2024 after delivering more than 80,000 homes during the calendar year. It also has had a solid year so far with $8.81 billion in revenues for the three months ended Aug. 31, 2025, and almost $25 billion in the first nine months of the year.

Although building homes is its primary focus, Lennar also offers Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) home loans to its homebuyers through its subsidiary Lennar Mortgage. It also offers title insurance and closing services in 18 states.

Homebuilders are seeing a dip in demand from 2025, and that's apparent in Lennar's revenues. However, the company is stepping up its multifamily game, increasing those revenues from $93 million in the three months ending Aug. 31, 2024, to $228 million in the three months ending Aug. 31, 2025.

Due to its willingness to experiment, Lennar has generally carried decent debt-to-asset ratios. In November 2024, it had $41.3 billion in assets versus $13.3 billion in liabilities. This ratio has slightly increased as of Aug. 31, 2025, with Lennar holding $34.9 billion in assets and $12.1 billion in liabilities, but remains under 35%.

Equity Residential REIT (EQR -1.44%) is an apartment REIT that's not only committed to providing quality apartment living to residents in major urban areas but also has shown a strong commitment to sustainability. The company recently became the first residential REIT to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America indexes.

Equity Residential was able to produce small gains of about 3% in normalized funds from operations (FFO) per share in the quarter ending September 2025 of $1.02, versus $0.99 in the same period in 2024. Its more than 86,000 units averaged a $3,094 per month rental rate as of Sept. 30, 2025, and the company held $21 billion in assets and $9.6 billion in liabilities at the end of the third quarter of 2025. Despite stiff competition in some of the most difficult real estate rental markets in the country, Equity Residential managed to achieve an occupancy rate of 96.3% during Q3 2025.

6. CoStar Group

The bottom line

There are plenty of ways to invest in real estate besides owning physical real estate assets. For many investors, real estate stocks can make all the best parts of owning real estate much more accessible and far less expensive. Whether you're interested in investing in apartment REITs or the builders who construct owner-occupied neighborhoods, there are lots of offerings on the table.

When evaluating real estate stocks, remember that many of the same rules apply as they would for any kind of stock. Look for companies with great offerings, whether it's leasable real estate or purchasable housing stock.

Make sure they aren't carrying a high level of debt that could become a serious liability in a downturn. The better they are at managing their money, the better off you'll be. And, if the management team happens to own a big chunk of the company, that's pretty solid evidence they're invested in making their company succeed by tying their own futures to that success.