Strengthen Your Passive Income Stream with High-Yielding REITs

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Goldman Sachs projects 15% annual growth in data center demand through 2030 driven by AI.
HSBC reports data center demand has far outpaced supply in key markets.
Crown Castle revenue declined 4.5% year over year despite Q4 FFO beating estimates by five cents.
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By Ian Cooper Published Feb 27, 10:50AM EST

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Strengthen Your Passive Income Stream with High-Yielding REITs — © Worawee Meepian / iStock via Getty Images

With all of the chaos in the markets, it’s a good idea to protect your portfolio and generate income with high-yielding stocks.

Look at real estate investment trusts (REITs), for example.

For one, most are a great hedge against inflation. After all, when inflation rises, so do a lot of rents. Two, we’re seeing a recovery in demand for offices, apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping centers, and hotels. We’re also seeing bigger demand for e-commerce, logistics, and warehouse demands, as noted by JPMorgan.

Here are a few REIT ideas you may want to consider today.

Crown Castle

With a yield of 5.5%, Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI) operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. The company also just declared a $1.0625 per share quarterly dividend, which is payable on March 31 to shareholders of record as of March 13.

Most recently, the company posted fourth quarter funds from operations (FFO) of $1.01, which beat by five cents. Revenue of $1.07 billion, down 4.5% year over year, beat by $10 million. Moving forward, CEO Christian Hillabrant reported that Crown Castle delivered full-year 2025 results “exceeding the midpoint across all key metrics as we focused on operational execution across our portfolio,” as quoted by Seeking Alpha.

He added that, “we are in the middle of major changes across our business as we take several actions to position Crown Castle to maximize shareholder value.”

Digital Realty Trust

With a yield of 2.77%, Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR) has more than 300 data centers and has now become one of the biggest REITs in the U.S. with a market cap of $60.6 billion. DLR also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.22 per share, which is payable on March 31 to shareholders of record as of March 13.

Helping, future growth is being fueled by the artificial intelligence data center boom. Thanks to artificial intelligence, data center demand is expected to rise at a 15% CAGR until 2030, according to Goldman Sachs. Plus, according to analysts at HSBC, data center demand has far outweighed supply thanks to AI demand and constrained supply in key markets. They also expect DLR to see further, strong momentum as we get into 2025.

Earnings have also been strong. In its fourth quarter, funds from operations of $1.81 did miss by a penny. However, revenue of $1.63 billion, up 3.8% quarter over quarter, beat by $50 million.

“Digital Realty delivered strong financial results in 2025, with robust top‑line growth, record leasing across our 0‑1 megawatt plus interconnection offering, and a substantial backlog that provides clear revenue visibility into 2026 and beyond,” said Digital Realty President and CEO Andy Power in an earnings release.

“The evolution of our private capital strategy is enabling us to efficiently scale development while maintaining a flexible balance sheet positioned for growth,” they added.

Or, if you’d rather diversify with yielding real estate investment trusts, here are three.

iShares Core US REIT ETF

With an expense ratio of 0.08%, the iShares Core US REIT ETF (USRT) yields 3.14%. It offers exposure to 131 holdings, including diversified REITs and other real estate holdings across multiple property sectors. Some of its top holdings include Prologis REIT, Welltower, Equinix REIT, Simon Property, Digital Realty Trust, and Realty Income REIT.

It also just paid a dividend of just over 69 cents on December 19, 2025. Before that, it paid out just over 42 cents per share on September 19, 2025.

Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF

With a yield of about 8.17%, the Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF (KBWY) invests at least 90% of its total assets in the securities of small and mid-cap equity REITs that trade in the U.S. and carry respectable yields. Some of its top holdings include Global Net Lease, Service Properties Trust, Global Medical REIT, Gladstone Commercial, EPR Properties, and Omega Healthcare, to name a few.

It also has an expense ratio of 0.35% and just paid a monthly dividend of just over 12 cents per share on January 23, 2026. Before that, it paid a dividend of just over 12 cents on December 26, 2025. And before that, it was 12 cents paid on November 28, 2025.

First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund

We can also take a look at the First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI).

With an expense ratio of 0.49% and a yield of 3.43%, the FRI ETF seeks investment results similar to the S&P United States REIT Index. Some of the top FRI ETF holdings include Prologis, Welltower, Equinix, Simon Property, Realty Income, Public Storage, Digital Realty Trust, and AvalonBay Communities, to name just a few.

The FRI ETF just paid a quarterly dividend of just over 33 cents per share on December 31. Before that, it paid out just over 17 cents on September 25, 2025.