Just over two months into 2012, the public timber REIT sector pulled ahead of the S&P 500.  According to the Forisk Timber REIT (FTR) Index, timberland owning REITs returned 9.84% YTD relative to 9.01% for the S&P 500.  Weyerhaeuser (WY) and Plum Creek (PCL) led the sector’s surge, with 15% and 10% ten-week price appreciations respectively since the New Year (see table).

Timberland-owning REITs comprise 5.91% of the market capitalization of all public REITs.

For FTR Index methodology, click here.  For detailed, historical FTR Index data in Excel, contact Brooks Mendell, bmendell@forisk.com.