Self-storage real estate investment trusts (REITs) continue to lead the U.S. REIT market, making good gains during the first half of 2011, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT).

Self storage REITs provided a total return of 15.05 percent during the first two quarters of 2011.  Overall, U.S. REITs continued to outperform the broader equity market in the second quarter and the first half of 2011.

The total return of the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index was up 2.94 percent in the second quarter and the total return of the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index was up 2.9 percent in the quarter compared to 0.10 percent for the S&P 500.

FTSE is an independent company jointly owned by The Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange. The Index Series presents investors with a comprehensive family of real estate investment trust performance indexes spanning the commercial real estate space across the U.S. economy, offering exposure to all investment and property sectors.

On a 12 month basis ending June 30, 2011, the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index was up 32.86 percent and the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index was up 34.09 percent compared to the S&P 500s 30.69 percent gain.

The U.S. REIT industrys total equity market capitalization stood at $455 billion at June 30, 2011, up 17 percent from $389 billion at Dec.31, 2010. The average daily dollar trading volume was $4.6 billion in June compared with $3.4 billion in Dec. 2010.