Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLRE?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLRE +4.3%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or XLRE?

XLRE is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IAU vs XLRE: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and XLRE an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XLRE returned +4.3% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $8.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF.

IAU on its own →XLRE on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+4.3%

XLRE total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.08%

XLRE expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLRE costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.6 points; IAU is 7.5 times larger.

IAU vs XLRE: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	XLRE
Return
Measure	IAU	XLRE
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+4.3%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	XLRE
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026	7.7%, high on Jul 28, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	XLRE
What it tracks	Gold	Real Estate Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	XLRE
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$8.0bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	XLRE
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		58.9%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust XLRE State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Real estate

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +4.3%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.5% (GLD) not measured

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD not measured

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 31

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLRE as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $8.0bn

IAU and XLRE on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

IAU

Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.

IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

XLRE

XLRE tracks an index of Real estate. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +4.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 31 positions, with the top ten at 58.9%. It sat 7.7% below its high of Jul 28, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLRE?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLRE +4.3%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or XLRE?: XLRE is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

IAU vs IYR IAU vs VNQ IAU vs SCHH IAU vs XLB SLV vs XLRE GLD vs XLRE SIVR vs XLRE USO vs XLRE

Where to next

IAU on its own →XLRE on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →XLRE dividend history →XLRE holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

XLRE filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLRE prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, IAU against XLRE, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-xlre

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