Fund Evaluator:

Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral Overview

Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral (VGSLX) is a passively managed Sector Equity Real Estate fund. Vanguard launched the fund in 2001.

The investment seeks to provide a high level of income and moderate long-term capital appreciation by tracking the performance of the MSCI U.S. Investable Market Real Estate 25/50 Index that measures the performance of publicly traded equity REITs and other real estate-related investments. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the stocks that make up the Target Index. The advisor attempts to track the index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets-either directly or indirectly through a wholly owned subsidiary. The fund is non-diversified.

About Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral (VGSLX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 1.36 years: Chris Nieves (2025), Jena Stenger (2025). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: DJ US Total Stock Market TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and MSCI US IMI/Real Estate 25-50 GR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral has 159 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 54.3% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Sector Equity fund group. Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 99.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral has 0.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $21 billion in total assets, which is above the $657 million average for the Real Estate category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

VGSLX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Real Estate category. Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral has an expense ratio of 0.13%, which is 89% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral has a portfolio turnover rate of 7%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 80% for the Real Estate category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral returned 1.7%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Real Estate category had an average return of 2.0%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral has a trailing yield of 3.60%, which is above the 2.17% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains quarterly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Vanguard Real Estate Index Admiral Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 11.1%, 3.0 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 12.5% over the past year (grade of D), 9.1% over the past three years (grade of D) and 2.8% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 4.9% per year over the past 10 years (grade of D).

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