Editor's note: This Data Dispatch is updated monthly. This analysis includes publicly traded real estate investment trusts covered by S&P Global Market Intelligence that are based in the U.S. or Canada and trade on the NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE American, Toronto Stock Exchange or Toronto Venture Exchange.

Eight U.S.-based publicly traded equity real estate investment trusts raised their regular dividend payments in August, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Hotel owner RLJ Lodging Trust announced the biggest relative dividend increase of the month, expanding its quarterly distribution by fivefold to 5 cents per share on Aug. 4.

* For further dividend analysis, try S&P Global Market Intelligence's REIT Dividends Template. * Click here to set email alerts for future Data Dispatch articles. * Read some of the day's top real estate news and insights from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Another hotel REIT, Apple Hospitality REIT Inc., increased its monthly dividend payment by 40.0% during the month to 7 cents per share.

Industrial-focused REITs Terreno Realty Corp. and EastGroup Properties Inc. both announced double-digit dividend hikes in August. The former bumped its quarterly dividend by 17.6% to 40 cents per share, while the latter raised its quarterly distribution by 13.6% to $1.25 per share.

The four other U.S. REITs that announced dividend increases during the month included regional mall REIT Simon Property Group Inc., single tenant-focused Alpine Income Property Trust Inc., diversified REIT CTO Realty Growth Inc. and shopping center-focused Federal Realty Investment Trust.

Dividend hikes by sector

Year-to-date, the number of U.S. REITs that announced dividend increases total 77, or roughly 47% of the entire U.S. REIT industry.

On a sector basis, 14 residential REITs in the U.S. have announced dividend hikes year-to-date, or roughly 73.7% of all residential REITs.

In terms of the proportion of dividend hikes to the sector's total, industrial REITs came in second, announcing eight dividend hikes year-to-date, or about 66.7% of the sector's total.

The retail sector had the highest number of announced dividend hikes year-to-date at 17 REITs, 10 of which are from shopping centers.

The number of Canadian REITs that announced dividend increases year-to-date remains at eight, three of which came from the residential sector and two from the retail space. In addition, the industrial, office and diversified sectors each reported one dividend hike.