While 2022 was a difficult year for most real estate investment trusts (REITs), the worst-performing subindustry was mortgage REITs (mREITs). The mREIT loss percentages ranged from the mid-teens to almost 60%. Inflation and interest rate hikes cut deeply into mREITs and contributed to the decimation of share prices. Still, mREITs remain popular for one main reason — they pay incredibly high dividend yields, which in bad years tempers the loss of principal and in good years adds to the total prof