Sectors & IndustriesReal EstateREIT - Mortgage

Best Mortgage REIT Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top mortgage reit stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +28.50% per year, and are the best mortgage reit stocks to buy now. Learn More.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best mortgage reit stocks to buy right now are:

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) is the #1 top mortgage reit stock out of 37 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +5.11% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) is: Value: C, Growth: A, Momentum: D, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: D, and AI: C.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) has a Due Diligence Score of 22, which is -7 points lower than the mortgage reit industry average of 29.

RWT passed 8 out of 38 due diligence checks and has weak fundamentals. Redwood Trust has seen its stock lose -41.45% over the past year, underperforming other mortgage reit stocks by -23 percentage points.

Redwood Trust has an average 1 year price target of $5.94, an upside of 63.58% from Redwood Trust's current stock price of $3.63.

Redwood Trust stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 8 analysts covering Redwood Trust, 50% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 25% have issued a Buy, 25% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) is the #2 top mortgage reit stock out of 37 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +5.11% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) is: Value: C, Growth: B, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: D, Financials: C, and AI: C.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) has a Due Diligence Score of 16, which is -13 points lower than the mortgage reit industry average of 29.

ACRE passed 5 out of 38 due diligence checks and has weak fundamentals. Ares Commercial Real Estate has seen its stock lose -9.9% over the past year, overperforming other mortgage reit stocks by 9 percentage points.

Ares Commercial Real Estate has an average 1 year price target of $5.33, an upside of 22.04% from Ares Commercial Real Estate's current stock price of $4.37.

Ares Commercial Real Estate stock has a consensus Hold recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 4 analysts covering Ares Commercial Real Estate, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 25% have issued a Buy, 75% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Rithm Capital (NYSE:RITM) is the #3 top mortgage reit stock out of 37 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +5.11% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Rithm Capital (NYSE:RITM) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: C.

Rithm Capital (NYSE:RITM) has a Due Diligence Score of 35, which is 6 points higher than the mortgage reit industry average of 29.

RITM passed 13 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Rithm Capital has seen its stock lose -22.72% over the past year, underperforming other mortgage reit stocks by -4 percentage points.

Rithm Capital has an average 1 year price target of $13.35, an upside of 38.2% from Rithm Capital's current stock price of $9.66.

Rithm Capital stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 10 analysts covering Rithm Capital, 60% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 40% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 34 mortgage reit stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 mortgage reit stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Invesco Mortgage Capital (NYSE:IVR) has an annual dividend yield of 24.02%, which is 10 percentage points higher than the mortgage reit industry average of 14.4%. Invesco Mortgage Capital's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% five times in the last 10 years. Invesco Mortgage Capital's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Invesco Mortgage Capital's dividend payout ratio of 102% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Ellington Credit Co (NYSE:EARN) has an annual dividend yield of 22.27%, which is 8 percentage points higher than the mortgage reit industry average of 14.4%. Ellington Credit Co's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% three times in the last 10 years. Ellington Credit Co's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Ellington Credit Co's dividend payout ratio of -564.7% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Orchid Island Capital (NYSE:ORC) has an annual dividend yield of 21.1%, which is 7 percentage points higher than the mortgage reit industry average of 14.4%. Orchid Island Capital's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% nine times in the last 10 years. Orchid Island Capital's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Orchid Island Capital's dividend payout ratio of 85.2% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Mortgage reit stocks were down -0.2% in the last day, and down -1.57% over the last week.

We couldn't find a catalyst for why mortgage reit stocks are down.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued mortgage reit stocks right now are:

Orchid Island Capital (NYSE:ORC) is the most undervalued mortgage reit stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Orchid Island Capital has a valuation score of 29, which is -6 points higher than the mortgage reit industry average of 35. It passed 2 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates ORC a Valuation Rating of "B".

Orchid Island Capital's stock has dropped -11.06% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the mortgage reit industry by 7 percentage points.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) is the second most undervalued mortgage reit stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Ellington Financial has a valuation score of 43, which is 8 points higher than the mortgage reit industry average of 35. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Ellington Financial's stock has dropped -4.05% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the mortgage reit industry by 14 percentage points.

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) is the third most undervalued mortgage reit stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Annaly Capital Management has a valuation score of 29, which is -6 points higher than the mortgage reit industry average of 35. It passed 2 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates NLY a Valuation Rating of "B".

Annaly Capital Management's stock has dropped -0.45% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the mortgage reit industry by 18 percentage points.

40.63% of mortgage reit stocks rated by analysts are a hold right now. On average, analysts expect mortgage reit stocks to rise by 20.08% over the next year.

0% of mortgage reit stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 0% of mortgage reit stocks are rated B (Buy), 54.55% are rated C (Hold), 33.33% are rated D (Sell), and 12.12% are rated F (Strong Sell).