S-REITs second largest in Asian market

S-REITs' market cap amounted to $37.6B.

According to a new report released today by the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA), and authored by Professor Graeme Newell, University of Western Sydney, the S-REIT market continues to attract investors, providing one of the highest average yields and yield premiums compared with other
developed Asian markets such as Japan and Hong Kong. In addition, the average S-REIT yield (6.39%) shows far better returns than the mature markets such as Australia (4.38%) and US (3.4%).

Analysing the seven REIT markets of Asia (Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea) since each was established up to April 2012, the report noted that all the developed markets (Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong) and one of the emerging markets (Taiwan) achieved higher returns than their respective stock market. S-REITs in particular, have outperformed stocks and have provided better risk-adjusted returns compared to stocks listed on the SGX-ST and also to listed real estate companies.

All of the developed Asian markets showed superior risk-adjusted performance compared to their respective stock markets, as did Taiwan, and Malaysia was
comparable. REITs in the emerging Asian markets had lower risk than their respective stock markets, as did Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, illustrating the defensive characteristics of REITs as an investment with strong yield focus.

“This is a very important finding, as the most mature and sophisticated REIT markets in Asia reflect the potential performance up-side opportunities that the emerging REIT markets could achieve as they grow and mature,” commented Newell.