3 No-Brainer High-Yield REIT Stocks to Buy Right Now

Reuben Gregg Brewer, The Motley Fool

Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 7:20 AM 5 min read

The average real estate investment trust (REIT) has a yield of around 4%. You can do much better than that with investments in Realty Income (NYSE: O), Vici Properties (NYSE: VICI), and Rexford Industrial (NYSE: REXR). The risk rises with each of these companies, but so does the potential for dividend growth. Here's a quick look at why it could be a no-brainer decision to buy each one right now.

Of these three REITs, Realty Income is by far the least exciting. It owns single-tenant properties for which the tenant is responsible for most property-level expenses (also known as a net lease). Around 75% of its rents come from retail assets, which tend to be very similar and, thus, easy to buy, sell, and release as needed. With over 15,600 properties spread across the United States and Europe, there's a lot of diversification in the portfolio.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Size, however, is both a benefit and a problem here. While Realty Income's scale is a key factor in its reliability (it has increased its dividend annually for three decades), it also means that slow growth is the norm. The well-above-REIT-average yield of 5.6% is partly a function of this fact. However, if dividend consistency is important to you, it's hard to beat this boring REIT. As an added bonus, Realty pays out the dividend monthly; so it's almost like a paycheck replacement for those who are retired.

Suggesting that a casino business is low-risk should seem like an odd statement. Indeed, casino operators tend to see their financial performance track along with economic swings. But Vici Properties owns casinos -- it doesn't operate them. Casino operators need to have access to the casino property they occupy if they want to remain in business. Thus, paying the rent is a top priority. The proof of that is that Vici Properties sailed through the coronavirus pandemic period, actually increasing its dividend, despite the fact that casinos were shut down because they were deemed non-essential businesses.

To be fair, Vici Properties is higher-risk than Realty Income. But there's an offset. While Realty Income's dividend has grown at a roughly 4% annualized rate over time, Vici Properties' dividend has been expanding at around 7% a year, on average. So while the buying power of Realty Income's dividend has kept pace with inflation, the buying power of Vici Properties' dividend has increased notably, and Vici Properties' yield is a still-attractive 5.4%.