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?

UMH Properties (UMH +3.02%) is a REIT that has been in the manufactured home business since 1968 and has been publicly traded since 1985. It holds approximately 10,600 individual manufactured rental homes in 144 communities. The company added 394 rental units and 493 homesites during the year ended Dec. 31, 2024.

UMH also sells manufactured homes to occupants. It sold 394 in the year ending Dec. 31, 2024, and is receiving rents for the lots on which the units sit (and those sold in previous years).

At the end of 2024, UMH held $1.56 billion in assets, with $485 million in mortgage debt. UMH offers affordable site rent and overall rent for single-family housing, which is likely to remain in high demand as the cost of stick-built, single-family residential homes continues to remain out of reach for many.

3. Lennar

Lennar (LEN -0.77%) 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 kicked off 2025 solidly with $8.37 billion in revenues for the three months ended May 31, 2025.

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 2024, and that's apparent in Lennar's revenues. However, the company is stepping up its multifamily game, increasing those revenues from $99 million in the three months ending May 31, 2024, to $230 million in the three months ending May 31, 2025.

Due to its willingness to experiment, Lennar has generally carried decent debt-to-asset ratios. In 2023, it had $39.2 billion in assets versus $12.5 billion in liabilities. This ratio has dropped somewhat as of May 31, 2024, with Lennar holding $41.3 billion in assets and $13.3 billion in liabilities.

Equity Residential REIT (EQR -0.22%) 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 Indices.

Equity Residential was able to produce significant gains in normalized funds from operations (FFO) per share in 2024 of $3.89 versus $3.78 in 2023. Its more than 84,000 units averaged $3,056 per month rental rate in 2024, and the company held $20.8 billion in assets and only $9.2 billion in liabilities at the end of fiscal year 2024. 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 96.2% in 2024.

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.