NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Apr 17, 2012) - REITs have continued to perform well this year as the U.S. housing market is finally showing signs of a long-awaited recovery. Record-low mortgage rates, lower prices, and an improving job market appear to be encouraging many potential buyers. The Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ), which tracks and measures the performance of publicly traded equity REITs, is up over 7 percent year-to-date. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for diversified REITs and provides equity research on ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE: [ ARR ]) and Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: [ IVR ]). Access to the full company reports can be found at:

[ www.FiveStarEquities.com/ARR ]
[ www.FiveStarEquities.com/IVR ]

According to a recent Associated Press article the past winter was the best for sales of previously occupied homes in five years, and permits to build new homes and apartments in February rose to the highest levels since 2008. "People feel much more confident," said Steve Brown, co-owner of real estate company Irongate Inc. of Dayton, Ohio, who says sales jumped more than 16 percent for the first two months of 2012 over the same period last year. "There's no question there's a good feeling in the marketplace."

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ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. announced financial results for the quarter and year ending December 31, 2011. Estimated taxable REIT income for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 was approximately $28.9 million. The weighted average additional paid-in capital for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, was $620.6 million. The weighted average shares outstanding for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, were 86,817,017. The estimated annual taxable REIT income represents an annualized return on average additional paid-in capital for the quarter of 18.7%.

The Board of Directors of Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. declared a dividend of $0.65 per share for the first quarter of 2012. The dividend will be paid on April 27, 2012 to shareholders of record on March 26, 2012, with an ex-dividend date of March 22, 2012. This release replaces the dividend release dated March 14, 2012. The record date has been changed from March 23, 2012 to March 26, 2012 to comply with NYSE notification requirements.

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