Which returned more over the last year, IYR or SPY?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IYR returned +3.4% and SPY +13.6%.

Which is cheaper, IYR or SPY?

SPY is cheaper, by 0.28 percentage points a year. That is about $28 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do IYR and SPY overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 80% of IYR and 100% of SPY by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IYR vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IYR returned +3.4% to SPY's +13.6%; 2% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $3.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF, and $814.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.

IYR on its own →SPY on its own →

At a glance

+3.4%

IYR total return, 1 year

+13.6%

SPY total return, 1 year

0.37%

IYR expense ratio

0.09%

SPY expense ratio

Pair scorecard

SPY costs 0.28 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.2 points; SPY is far larger, $810.0bn against $4.0bn.

IYR vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IYR	SPY
Return
Measure	IYR	SPY
Total return, 1 year	+3.4%	+13.6%
Drawdown
Measure	IYR	SPY
Below its high	8.6%, high on Jul 28, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IYR	SPY
What it tracks	Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Capped Index	S&P 500 Index
Cost and size
Measure	IYR	SPY
Expense ratio	0.37%	0.09%
Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026	$4.0bn	$810.0bn
Holdings
Measure	IYR	SPY
Holdings in common	2%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	52.5%	38.1%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, IYR and SPY hold 2% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

2% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first IYR SPY

WELLTOWER 9.85% 0.24%

PROLOGIS REIT 8.77% 0.18%

EQUINIX REIT 4.57% 0.15%

AMERICAN TOWER REIT 4.96% 0.13%

SIMON PROPERTY GROUP REIT INC 4.71% 0.10%

DIGITAL REALTY TRUST REIT 4.54% 0.09%

REALTY INCOME REIT 4.19% 0.08%

PUBLIC STORAGE REIT 4.10% 0.08%

VIVMARK RESIDENTIAL 3.51% 0.07%

VENTAS REIT 3.34% 0.06%

CROWN CASTLE INC 2.92% 0.06%

CBRE GROUP CLASS A 2.71% 0.05%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in IYR

W. P. CAREY REIT 1.13%

OMEGA HEALTHCARE INVESTORS REIT 1.09%

SUN COMMUNITIES REIT INC 1.09%

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT REIT 1.08%

JONES LANG LASALLE 1.08%

LAMAR ADVERTISING COMPANY CLAS 1.05%

EQUITY LIFESTYLE PROPERTIES REIT I 0.90%

GAMING AND LEISURE PROPERTIES REIT 0.88%

Only in SPY

NVIDIA CORP 7.92%

APPLE INC 7.61%

MICROSOFT CORP 5.93%

AMAZON.COM INC 3.73%

ALPHABET INC CL A 2.83%

BROADCOM INC 2.45%

ALPHABET INC CL C 2.26%

META PLATFORMS INC CLASS A 2.06%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

IYR iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Tracks an index of U.S. Real Estate Tracks the S&P 500

Total return, 1 year +3.4% +13.6%

Its benchmark over the same days not measured +13.7% (VOO)

Gap to its benchmark not measured −0.1 pts vs VOO

Expense ratio 0.37% 0.09%

Already in the S&P 500 80.0% 99.8%

Holdings 59 504

Net assets, IYR as of Oct 28, 2026 and SPY as of Oct 27, 2026 $3.9bn $814.8bn

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

Alert

About each fund

IYR

IYR tracks an index of U.S. Real Estate. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +3.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.37% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 80% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 59 positions, with the top ten at 52.5%. It sat 8.6% below its high of Jul 28, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

SPY

SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% 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 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IYR or SPY?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IYR returned +3.4% and SPY +13.6%.
Which is cheaper, IYR or SPY?: SPY is cheaper, by 0.28 percentage points a year. That is about $28 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do IYR and SPY overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 80% of IYR and 100% of SPY by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

IVV vs IYR IYR vs VTI IYR vs VOO IYR vs SPYM SCHH vs SPY SPY vs VNQ SPY vs XLRE KRE vs SPY

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

IYR filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

IYR prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for IYR ↗

SPY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

State Street website ↗

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

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, IYR against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iyr-vs-spy

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.