Looking for a great real estate ETF investment? Do some research on the iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential Index Fund (NYSE:REZ). While some funds have outperformed others, none have done better that the FTSE NAREIT Residential Index Fund

While overall the sector may still be facing some headwinds, most funds in the Real Estate ETFdb Category have performed rather well so far in 2011 thanks to these outperforming sectors. In fact, over the 18 ETFs in the space, 13 have outperformed the S&P 500 in a year-to-date comparison, suggesting that the vast majority of products are giving investors a better performance from a capital gain perspective– not to mention yield– than a simple investment in the S&P 500.

REZ has managed to produce a 9.8% gain for investors so far in 2011, thoroughly trouncing the market and beating out far more popular funds as well. For example, the two most popular products in the space, (NYSE:VNQ) and (NYSE:IYR), are producing returns of 0.65% and -1.4%, respectively, on a year-to-date basis for their investors.

While both of these products do provide investors with slightly better yields than REZ, they obviously do not come close from a performance standpoint, either this year or from longer term periods as well. In fact, when looking at the previous three years, REZ is the top performer in the category, gaining 16.5% while VNQ gained slightly (up 1.6%), and IYR lost a bit (down 3.7%) in comparison.

Real estate ETFs are a fantastic way to invest your money. Even in the struggling housing market, if you know which ones to invest in, then you are definitely going to make some money. Here are 10 more real estate ETFs to keep an eye on.