This is a guest contribution by Bob Ciura of Sure Dividend. Sure Dividend helps individual investors build high quality dividend growth portfolios for the long run.
For investors looking for income, Real Estate Investment Trusts are often an excellent source of potential investments. REITs widely have high dividend yields, often above 5%.
In addition, REITs will benefit from the upcoming expected interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Falling interest rates will help lower the cost of capital for REITs, which rely heavily on external financing to fund property acquisitions.
This article will discuss 3 top high dividend REITs for income investors with current yields above 5%.
W.P. Carey (WPC)
W.P. Carey is a commercial real estate focused REIT that operates two segments: real estate ownership and investment management. The REIT operates more than 1,200 single tenant properties on a net lease basis, across the US and Northern and Western Europe. W.P. Carey was founded more than 40 years ago and is headquartered in New York, NY.
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For its fiscal second quarter, W. P. Carey reported that its revenues totaled $431 million, which was 11% more than the revenues that W. P. Carey generated during the previous year’s period, which was a better performance than during the previous quarter. Revenues came in above the analyst consensus estimate, beating it by $15 million.
During the second quarter, the trust was more profitable than the analyst community had expected, as adjusted funds-from-operations came in at $1.28 on a per-share basis, beating the consensus estimate by $0.07. Adjusted funds-from-operations were up by a nice 9% on a per-share basis compared to the previous year’s quarter. W.P. Carey has raised its guidance for 2025, forecasting funds from operations in a range of $4.87 to $4.95 on a per-share basis.
W. P. Carey generated FFO-per-share growth in the mid-single-digits for many years, but over the last decade, growth was lower. FFOPS declined during the initial phase of the pandemic but recovered quickly, rising in both 2021 and 2022. The divestments of the office portfolio hurt profits in 2024, but W.P. Carey believes that this portfolio repositioning will improve the long-term growth outlook.
W. P. Carey invests additional money in new properties continuously. Over the last decade, the REIT invested more than $10 billion into new assets by either purchasing entire REITs or through asset/portfolio purchases.
W.P. Carey is quite recession-proof, as even during the Great Recession the REIT managed to keep its profits relatively stable. Due to geographic diversification (around 65% US, 30% Europe, 5% other), W. P. Carey is not overly dependent on the progress of any single market, which reduces risks for investors. This safety is underlined by long-lasting contracts, very high occupancy rates of ~99%, considerable scale, and an investment grade credit rating.
WPC currently yields 5.4%.
CubeSmart (CUBE)
CubeSmart is a self-managed REIT focused primarily on the ownership, operation, management, acquisition, and development of self-storage properties in the United States. The company owns 606 self-storage properties, totaling about 43.8 million rentable square feet in the District of Columbia and 25 other states.
Also, the company manages 869 stores for third parties. The total number of stores that it owns and/or manages comes to 1,475. The company has nearly 380,000 customers and generated around $1 billion in revenues last year. The company is based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
On July 31, 2025, CubeSmart reported its Q2 results for the period ending June 30th, 2025. For the quarter, revenues grew by 6.1% to $282.3 million year-over-year. Higher revenues were mainly driven by previously completed property acquisitions and development openings, since same-store revenues declined. Specifically, same-store revenues fell 0.5% due to same-store occupancy falling from 91.8% to 91.1%.
On a per-share basis, FFO came in at $0.65, up slightly from $0.64 last year. For FY-2025, management raised their guidance, now expecting to achieve FFO/share between $2.54 and $2.60.
CubeSmart showcases a solid track record of growing revenues and FFO/share, with management skillfully acquiring lucrative properties and maximizing their potential profitability through operational efficiencies and low-cost financing. The company’s FFO/share has increased by 8.8% on average annually over the past decade and 8.2% over the past five years.
CUBE has raised its dividend annually over the past 15 years. The dividend has grown at a five-year and 10-year CAGR of 12.9% and 9.4%, respectively. CUBE currently yields 5.1%.
SL Green Realty (SLG)
SL Green Realty was formed in 1980. It is an integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that is focused on acquiring, managing, and maximizing the value of Manhattan commercial properties. It is Manhattan’s largest office landlord, with a market capitalization of $4.3 billion, and currently owns 53 buildings totaling 31 million square feet.
In mid-July, SLG reported (7/16/2025) financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Its occupancy rate edged down sequentially from 91.8% to 91.4%. In addition, its same-store net operating income dipped -1% over the prior year’s quarter. Adjusted funds from operations (FFO) were $1.63, exceeding the analysts’ consensus by $0.25.
SLG has been impacted by the ongoing increase in work-from-home trends. The exceptionally high FFO per share in 2024 resulted from some non-recurring gains. Nevertheless, thanks to increased profits from recent transactions, SLG raised its guidance for annual FFO per share from $5.25-$5.55 to $5.65-$5.95.
SLG benefits from long-term growth in rental rates in one of the most popular commercial areas in the world, Manhattan. The REIT pursues growth by acquiring attractive properties and raising rental rates in its existing properties. It also signs multi-year contracts (7-15 years) with its tenants in order to secure reliable cash flows.
SLG has a decent balance sheet, with a healthy BBB credit rating. As a result, it could maintain its 5.4% dividend, which is covered with a reasonable payout ratio of 53%.
Disclosure: No positions in any stocks mentioned
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