Best Monthly Dividend REITs 2026: 10 REITs That Pay Every Month

Quarterly dividends are nice. Monthly dividends are addictive.

When you own monthly dividend REITs, cash hits your account 12 times per year instead of 4. That might sound like a small difference, but it changes your psychology. You see progress every 30 days. You can reinvest faster. And if you are building toward replacing your paycheck with passive income, monthly dividends actually feel like a paycheck.

The best part? REITs are legally required to pay out most of their income — which is why they offer some of the highest yields in the entire stock market. A typical S&P 500 stock yields 1.3%. The REITs on this list yield 4% to 14%.

Here are the 10 best monthly dividend REITs you can buy in 2026, ranked by quality, yield, and reliability.

Before we dive into the list, it helps to understand why REITs pay so much more than regular stocks.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is a company that owns income-producing real estate — think apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, or retail stores. To qualify for special tax treatment, a REIT must distribute at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends. In return, the REIT pays little or no corporate tax.

This is not optional. It is the law. And most REITs actually pay out 100% of taxable income to avoid any corporate tax at all.

Now, most REITs pay quarterly — just like regular stocks. But a select group pays monthly. These tend to be net lease REITs, healthcare REITs, and mortgage REITs that collect rent or interest on a monthly basis. Their income arrives monthly, so they pass it along monthly.

Here is the full list, sorted by a combination of yield, reliability, and dividend track record. Data is current as of March 2026.

Ticker	Company	Sector	Yield
O	Realty Income	Net Lease	5.0%
ADC	Agree Realty	Net Lease	3.9%
MAIN	Main Street Capital	BDC	5.3%
EPR	EPR Properties	Experiential	6.2%
DOC	Healthpeak Properties	Healthcare	7.0%
LTC	LTC Properties	Senior Housing	6.0%
APLE	Apple Hospitality	Hotels	8.0%
SLG	SL Green Realty	Office (NYC)	7.8%
GOOD	Gladstone Commercial	Industrial/Office	9.6%
AGNC	AGNC Investment	Mortgage REIT	14.0%

Now let's break these down by investment strategy.

If you want monthly dividends you can actually count on for decades, start here.

Realty Income (O) — The Gold Standard

Realty Income trademarked the name "The Monthly Dividend Company" — and it earned it. The company has paid 668+ consecutive monthly dividends and raised its payout 133 times since its 1994 NYSE listing. With a $60 billion market cap and over 15,500 properties, O is the largest net lease REIT in the world. Its 5.0% yield may not be the highest on this list, but its 31 years of consecutive increases make it the only monthly-paying Dividend Aristocrat in existence. For a deeper dive, see our complete Realty Income dividend guide.

Agree Realty (ADC) — The Growth Pick

Agree Realty focuses on net lease retail properties with investment-grade tenants like Walmart, Costco, and Dollar General. At a 3.9% yield, it is the lowest yield on this list — but it has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years with average annual growth of 4.5%. Think of ADC as the "younger Realty Income" — lower yield today, but faster growth.

Main Street Capital (MAIN) — The BDC Powerhouse

Technically a Business Development Company (not a REIT), Main Street Capital makes the list because it pays monthly and offers excellent yield. MAIN lends to lower middle-market companies and pays a $0.26/month regular dividend — plus supplemental dividends from excess earnings that push the total yield to ~7.9%. The company has increased its regular dividend for 14+ consecutive years and just raised it again in Q1 2026.

If maximizing current income is your priority, these REITs deliver — but with more risk.

EPR Properties (EPR) — 6.2% Yield

EPR owns "experiential" real estate: movie theaters, ski resorts, water parks, and eat-and-play venues. It is a unique niche. The COVID pandemic hit EPR hard (it suspended its dividend for over a year), but it has recovered with 5 consecutive years of increases. The $6.9 billion property portfolio generates solid cash flow, and the monthly dividend of $0.295/share is well-covered by funds from operations.

Healthpeak Properties (DOC) — 7.0% Yield

An S&P 500 member that just switched from quarterly to monthly payments in early 2025. Healthpeak focuses on life science facilities, medical offices, and senior housing. It completed a transformative merger with Physicians Realty Trust in 2024, making it one of the largest healthcare REITs. With a $12 billion market cap and monthly payments of $0.10/share, DOC is a solid healthcare play.

Apple Hospitality REIT (APLE) — 8.0% Yield

APLE owns premium select-service hotels under Marriott and Hilton brands. It reported 74.1% occupancy in 2025 with a payout ratio of just 63.9% — meaning the dividend is well covered. The 8% yield is 23% higher than the REIT sector average.

SL Green Realty (SLG) — 7.8% Yield

Manhattan's largest office landlord, owning 56 buildings totaling 31 million square feet. The high yield reflects ongoing uncertainty in the office sector, but SL Green's prime NYC locations give it an edge over suburban office REITs. This is a contrarian bet on the office market recovery.

Gladstone Commercial (GOOD) — 9.6% Yield

A small-cap ($600M) REIT owning 122 industrial and office properties. The near-double-digit yield is attractive, but Gladstone has reduced its dividend over the past decade. It still delivers 17+ years of consecutive monthly payments — just not growing ones.

AGNC Investment (AGNC) — 14.0% Yield

The highest yield on this list by far. AGNC invests in agency mortgage-backed securities (guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). It generated a 22.7% economic return on tangible equity in 2025. But the dividend has trended lower over the past decade — from $0.22/month down to $0.12/month. AGNC is best suited for investors who understand interest rate risk and want maximum current income.

Here is what a $50,000 investment in each of these monthly REITs would generate per month, based on current yields:

REIT	Yield	Annual	Monthly
ADC	3.9%	$1,950	$163
O	5.0%	$2,500	$208
MAIN	5.3%	$2,650	$221
LTC	6.0%	$3,000	$250
EPR	6.2%	$3,100	$258
DOC	7.0%	$3,500	$292
SLG	7.8%	$3,900	$325
APLE	8.0%	$4,000	$333
GOOD	9.6%	$4,800	$400
AGNC	14.0%	$7,000	$583

A balanced approach might be splitting $50,000 across three to four REITs. For example: $20,000 in O + $15,000 in MAIN + $15,000 in EPR would generate roughly $270/month at a blended 5.5% yield — with income from three different sectors.

Want to figure out how much you need to hit $500, $1,000, or $2,000 per month in dividends? We have a complete guide for that.

If you have seen older "monthly dividend REIT" lists, you probably noticed STAG Industrial (STAG) near the top. STAG was one of the most popular monthly dividend REITs — a single-tenant industrial REIT with 15 consecutive years of dividend growth.

But in January 2026, STAG announced it would switch from monthly to quarterly dividends, alongside a 4% dividend increase (from $1.49 to $1.55/share annually).

STAG remains an excellent industrial REIT — it just no longer qualifies for this list. If you owned STAG for the monthly cadence, consider whether Agree Realty (ADC) or Realty Income (O) could fill that role in your portfolio.

Monthly dividends are great, but REITs come with specific risks that stock investors may not be used to:

• Interest rate sensitivity: REITs often use significant leverage (debt) to buy properties. When rates rise, borrowing costs increase and REIT prices tend to fall. This hit the entire sector hard in 2022–2023.
• Sector concentration: A net lease REIT is not the same as a mortgage REIT. Office REITs face remote-work headwinds. Hotel REITs depend on travel demand. Diversify across sectors.
• Dividend sustainability: A high yield can be a warning sign. AGNC's 14% yield is partly a reflection of declining share price over time. GOOD's 9.6% reflects past dividend cuts. Always check the FFO payout ratio — if a REIT is paying out more than 90% of FFO, the dividend may be at risk.
• Tax treatment: Most REIT dividends are taxed as ordinary income, not at the lower qualified dividend rate. Consider holding REITs in tax-advantaged accounts (IRA, 401k) when possible.

Here is a simple framework to get started with monthly REIT investing:

1. Pick 3–5 REITs from different sectors. A mix of O (net lease) + MAIN (BDC) + DOC (healthcare) gives you sector diversification and a blended yield around 5.5–6%.
2. Reinvest early, withdraw later. If you are still building wealth, turn on DRIP (dividend reinvestment) to compound your shares. Switch to cash payouts when you are ready for income.
3. Track everything. With 10+ monthly payments hitting your account, it is easy to lose track. Use a dividend tracker to monitor your income, spot trends, and make sure no payments are missed.
4. Review annually. Check each holding's FFO payout ratio, dividend growth rate, and balance sheet once a year. Swap out any REIT that cuts its dividend or shows deteriorating fundamentals.

Monthly dividend REITs will not make you rich overnight. But stacking $200, $500, $1,000/month in passive income — from real property portfolios that collect rent whether the stock market is up or down — is one of the most reliable paths to financial independence.

The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is today.