SPY vs VNQ: how much do they really overlap?
SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, tracking the S&P 500) and VNQ (Vanguard Real Estate ETF, tracking the MSCI US IMI Real Estate 25/50) overlap by roughly 0% by weight. 0 of SPY's top 10 holdings also appear in VNQ. A 50/50 blend of the two behaves like about 63 equally-weighted bets (diversification grade A). In short, the two funds hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant.
The same companies, in both funds
These 0 holdings appear in both SPY and VNQ. The weight columns show how much of each fund each name represents.
| Holding | in SPY | in VNQ |
|---|
Only in SPY
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust — US large-cap. Its biggest holdings that VNQ doesn’t have:
| NVDA NVIDIA Corporation | 7.38% |
| AAPL Apple Inc. | 6.47% |
| MSFT Microsoft Corporation | 4.28% |
| AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. | 3.68% |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. | 3.24% |
| AVGO Broadcom Inc. | 2.76% |
| GOOG Alphabet Inc. | 2.60% |
| MU Micron Technology, Inc. | 2.02% |
Only in VNQ
Vanguard Real Estate ETF — US real estate. Its biggest holdings that SPY doesn’t have:
| VRTPX Vanguard Real Estate II Index Fund Institutional Plus Shares | 14.54% |
| WELL Welltower Inc. | 7.68% |
| PLD Prologis Inc. | 7.17% |
| EQIX Equinix Inc. | 5.65% |
| AMT American Tower Corp. | 4.67% |
| SPG Simon Property Group Inc. | 3.57% |
| DLR Digital Realty Trust Inc. | 3.50% |
| O Realty Income Corp. | 3.04% |
So — essentially different. Should you hold both?
SPY and VNQ hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant. Held together they genuinely broaden your exposure — a 50/50 blend reaches ~63 effective positions (grade A), because they hold largely different securities.
Holdings as of — SPY: Jun 29, 2026 (State Street Global Advisors); VNQ: May 31, 2026 (Vanguard). Refreshed monthly. Overlap is measured across each fund’s largest holdings (top 50); the diffuse long tail barely moves the math.
See this for YOUR whole portfolio, free →SPY vs VNQ — FAQ
- How much do SPY and VNQ overlap?
- SPY and VNQ overlap by approximately 0% measured by portfolio weight — that is the share of the smaller fund's holdings (by weight) that also sit inside the other. 0 of SPY's 10 largest holdings are also held by VNQ. They share 0 of their listed top holdings in total.
- Is it redundant to hold both SPY and VNQ?
- Because they hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant, holding both is not redundant — each fund covers largely different holdings, so together they broaden your exposure. A 50/50 blend has an effective 63 positions and a A diversification grade.
- What does VNQ hold that SPY doesn't?
- VNQ's largest holdings that SPY doesn't hold include VRTPX, WELL, PLD, EQIX, AMT. Its category is US real estate, versus SPY's US large-cap.
- Which is more concentrated, SPY or VNQ?
- SPY's top 10 holdings are 71% of its listed weight; VNQ's are 62%. The more concentrated fund leans harder on its largest names.