Geographic scope differs sharply: REET spans developed and emerging markets globally, while VNQ is essentially a pure-play on U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs), which are companies that own and operate income-producing property. Cost and scale favor VNQ: VNQ charges a slightly lower expense ratio (0.13% vs. 0.14%) and manages a much larger asset base with deeper daily liquidity.

VNQ tracks the MSCI US Investable Market Real Estate 25/50 Index, providing broad exposure to U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs); VNQI tracks the S&P Global ex-U.S. Property Index, spanning international real estate across developed and emerging markets. VNQ holds roughly 150 securities concentrated in large-cap U.S. REITs, while VNQI holds more than 700 positions across roughly 35 countries, offering far broader but more diffuse diversification.

Housing prices for houses less than 75% of the cost of median houses increased 8.9% from September 2016 to September 2017 which was above the 6.4% increase for all homes.Even though the labor market is extremely robust as weekly wage growth is at a cycle high and the underemployment rate is at a cycle low, shelter inflation outperforming overall CPI has taken a toll on affordability.