Active Real Estate ETF Raises Quantity to 834

Invesco PowerShares today launched the first actively managed real estate ETF, PowerShares Active U.S. Real Estate Fund (PSR). Unfortunately, this new ETF may not attract much attention as real estate was one of the poorest performing industries yesterday and is off to a terrible start again today.

The market has not been kind to real estate ETFs this year. Not only has performance taken a hit, but seven real estate-specific ETFs and one homebuilder ETF have liquidated since mid-year. PowerShares is counting on the “active” nature of this new ETF to help it avoid the fate of the demised ETFs and stand out from the crowd of other real estate offerings. This is the fifth active ETF from PowerShares. Active ETFs were an eagerly anticipated development but investors have been reluctant to try them.

Today’s launch brings the total number of U.S. listed ETFs and ETNs to 834, a new high. There have been 25 new exchange traded products listed in November and more than 200 so far this year.