Top 7 REITs for 2026 (Dividend Real Estate Investing)

REITs and just real estate in general hasn't been great because the rates have been so high, but with the rates being cut over these next year or two, this may be the time to get in at the ground floor before everything goes crazy high. In this video, I'm going to talk about some AI data centers, some Vegas casino landlords, a bunch of recession-proof REITs. One of them has been beating the S&P 500 over the last five years, even with this lull in the real estate market. Just like I talk about in most of my other videos, it is kind of tough to pick one specific company or even one specific REIT, and that's why I love ETFs so much, or index funds, because when you invest in that, you invest in a whole basket of all these other ones, and so you don't have as much risk. So I'm going to start with two REIT ETFs that I love, then I'm going to give you five individual REITs that I love, especially before 2026. My name is Nolan Govea. My students call me Professor G, and I made this channel to make investing simplified. Remember that all investing carries risks, so do your own research. This is not financial advice, and I'm not a financial advisor. So the two ETFs that I absolutely love would be either VNQ from Vanguard or SCHH from Charles Schwab, and I'm going to show you a couple of key differences in strategy here, and then I'll show you their performance. So VNQ is a little more broad. It includes REITs and some real estate management and development companies, while SCHH is a pure play. It focuses only on equity REITs, no developers or service firms. VNQ covers the entire US real estate sector, while SCHH excludes non-REIT companies, so it's more pure real estate exposure. VNQ is more large capital oriented, but includes mid and small cap, whereas SCHH is pretty much all large, but has a little bit of mid cap as well. VNQ has a slightly higher exposure to specialized real estate like data centers and cell towers, and SCHH is more traditional property REITs like residential, retail, and industrial. Now to the good part, what you care about, the performance and dividends. On a five-year annualized return, VNQ is about 5.6% and SCHH is 5.3%. Obviously that's not huge gains, but keep in mind these last three or four years, even back five years ago all the way to COVID or so, have not necessarily been the best for real estate and with these rates as high as they've been, it's kind of hurt that whole sector. The dividend yield for VNQ is about 3.9%, where SCHH is about 3.6%. The volatility though in VNQ is a little bit higher and SCHH is definitely a little bit lower. So all in all, VNQ is broader, slightly higher yield, more diversified exposure to the real estate industry, where SCHH is cheaper, more focused exposure to equity REITs only, and ideal for those who want pure property ownership exposure. All right, so now I'm going to give you five individual company REITs and this first one is one of the most exciting ones I think that I've researched and it's a totally new one that I haven't heard many people talk about. This one's called DLR. Digital Realty or DLR is one of the most respected and strategically positioned REITs in the world, especially for long-term investors who want exposure to the digital infrastructure powering AI, cloud computing, and data growth. DLR owns and operates over 300 data centers across 25 different countries, leasing them to big tech clients like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Oracle. These facilities are the backbone of the internet, cloud services, and AI workloads, demand that's expected to grow exponentially for decades. DLR has a significant presence in Europe and Asia, unlike many US-only REITs. The global data demand growth, especially in India, Singapore, and Western Europe, gives it long-term runway. Acquisition strengthened its global interconnection ecosystem. The dividend on this one's about 2.9 to 3.1%. Over the last five years, it's up 6.41% and year to date, it's on sale at negative 4.8%. That one should excite you if you're into this whole AI boom, which you absolutely should be if you're an investor. Number two, this one I have talked about a lot on my channel, and honestly, it's probably my favorite REIT of all time, and it's just a staple in a REIT portfolio, and this is VICI. Unlike many traditional REITs, VICI combines steady income, inflation protection, and exposure to high-demand experiential real estate, casinos, resorts, and entertainment venues that people consistently flock to. VICI owns some of the most iconic real estate in the world, including Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, The Venetian, Mandalay Bay, Park MGM, and a bunch of other casinos, golf courses, and hospitality properties across the US and Canada. This gives VICI ownership to almost half of the Las Vegas Strip. VICI's leases are triple net, meaning tenants pay property taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Leases have built-in annual escalators, often 2-3% per year or CPI-linked, protecting against inflation. The average lease term is greater than 40 years, with virtually no near-term expirations. And the result is extremely stable, predictable income, which is rare for a REIT. Even during downturns, casinos still operate and pay rent because the real estate is essential to their business. Gaming and hospitality have proven resilient. Rent collection stayed near 100% during COVID, even when casinos were closed. People consistently return to experiential spending. Fun and travel bounce back way faster than discretionary goods. The dividend on VICI is between 5.8% to 6.1%. Over the last five years, it's up great at 30.96%, and year-to-date it's up 6.8%. For my research, VICI is one of the best REITs I've ever found, and even this year, it's up when most are down. For my research, VICI has been one of the best REITs of all time, and even now, it's up when most REITs are down. And speaking of research, my favorite tool is called ProPix Plus, and it's found at Investing.com. Thank you to Investing.com for being the sponsor of today's video. Investing.com is the go-to financial website that many of us use daily. When you subscribe as a member, you get access to ProPix, and more specifically ProPix Plus, which is what I use personally. This uses artificial intelligence to analyze the market and gives you a list of the top investment opportunities. What I love about ProPix Plus is that it saves me a ton of time. Instead of spending hours researching stocks, I can now check their picks and make informed decisions in minutes. As an Investing Pro member, you don't only get access to ProPix, but a whole suite of other powerful tools. For example, there's an Ideas section where you can look into and copy the strategies of legendary investors like Warren Buffett. They also have a stock screener with over a thousand metrics you can filter by to find exactly the stocks your portfolio is missing. Like I said before, and what I've shared with my exclusive group, is that I personally use the ProPlus. This gives me 65-plus predefined stock screens, 1,200-plus premium metrics for stocks, the ProPlus is for investors who want hedge fund-grade data and research capabilities to find strategic opportunities. The best part? Investing.com is running a sale, but I managed to get you an even better discount for you all. This means you get the lowest price of the year on Investing Pro subscription. Click the link in the description to subscribe and start using ProPix today. This offer is only available for a limited time, so don't miss out. Alright, so this next REIT on the list is one of the most beloved REITs of all time. If you're thinking long-term, as like a buy-and-hold investor forever, for as long as possible, Realty Income O is one of the only ones that actually fits that profile. Realty Income pays dividends every single month, not quarterly, a signature feature since its founding in 1969. It's paid over 640 consecutive monthly dividends and raised them 100-plus times since going public. Their current dividend yield as of 2025 is between 5.5-6%, depending on market price. Their top tenants include Walmart, Walgreens, Dollar General, 7-Eleven, FedEx, CVS, Home Depot. These are mission-critical locations, retail, convenience, logistics, the kind of places that remain open and paying rent even in recessions. Occupancy rate has remained above 98% for decades, even during economic crises. Over the last 5 years, it is down about 4.79%, but year-to-date, up 10.76%, which is the highest so far year-to-date. I think growth is on the horizon. Alright, so this next one, this fourth individual REIT here, this one is a sneaky play and it's something that we all should definitely be taking into consideration. Right now, with this whole tariff situation and the AI boom and everything else, right at the cross center of all of this is the fact that we definitely need much more warehouses and specifically logistics, because there's going to be a massive demand for warehouses and specifically in the United States, where before they were all over the world, but because of these tariffs, a lot of companies are thinking about bringing things back to the United States. And then with AI and with e-commerce going to be going even more crazy, demand for warehouses is going to go through the roof. And Prologis is the world's biggest industrial REIT, owning and operating about 1.2 billion square feet of logistics real estate across 20 plus countries. Its properties are warehouses, fulfillment centers, and distribution hubs that power Amazon, FedEx, UPS, Home Depot, Walmart, Target, all of these. Every time a package moves from a factory to your doorstep, there's a good chance it passes through a Prologis building. Like I said, there are key mega trends that are moving the price action for PLD, and this will be a monster eventually. E-commerce and same-day delivery. There's massive demand for warehouse space near population centers. On-shoring and near-shoring, like I was saying from before, companies relocating supply chains back to North America. AI and automation. Smart warehouses need modern, high-quality space. And there's limited new supply. Zoning and land scarcity keep rents rising. These forces aren't going away, they're shaping the next 20 plus years of industrial real estate demand. For this one, the dividend yield is about 3.6 to 3.8%. Over the last five years, it's up. Can't say enough good about that one. Now this last one here. Let me start off by reminding you what happened in 2022. The S&P 500 dropped a lot. So did pretty much every other equity in ETF. The S&P 500 was down over 18%. This next one on this list is very recession resilient and very much dip resilient. So it's absolutely a great portion for you to put into your portfolio to diversify outside of some of these other things that might dip like crazy if the whole stock market drops. This last one on the list during 2022 was actually only down 4.74%. And you can see that in 2023, it went up over 40%. And then up over 50% in 2024, both beating the S&P 500. This one also had crazy gains over the last five years. You're not going to believe this. Iron Mountain, ticker IRM, started in 1951 literally storing documents in a cave in Pennsylvania. Today it manages over 700 million cubic feet of physical records and hundreds of data centers and digital infrastructure sites across 60 plus countries. Their clients include 95% of the Fortune 1000. This would be governments, hospitals, banks, and law firms worldwide. Every legal contract, medical record, and financial backup that can't be lost or deleted lives in Iron Mountain's vaults or servers. Once a company stores its data, whether it's physical or digital, with IRM, it's almost impossible to leave because moving records or tapes is extremely expensive and risky. Compliance and security rules often mandate physical custody continuity. Clients often have decades-long retention obligations. This gives IRM incredible pricing power and near 100% retention rates. During 2008, 2020, and 2022, IRM's occupancy barely moved. Businesses don't stop storing data. It's legally required. The shredding and digitization arms even benefit from regulatory cycles. This makes IRM a defensive REIT. Income doesn't depend on consumer sentiment or interest rates as much as retail or office REITs. The dividend for this one's about 3%. Look at that five-year growth, which beats the S&P 500. And year-to-date, it's actually on sale, so this is a great time to grab it. Let me know down below which was your favorite REIT, which REIT are you investing in. And then watch this video on how to build passive income, where you actually may only need $500,000 or maybe even less to be able to live off of and have financial freedom forever just by doing a couple of things in this video. Or watch this video to keep you going strong in investing.