Why industrial market should brace itself for a drop in acquisitions

DPU growth to be badly hurt.

According to CIMB, as a result of the heightened regulation of the industrial property market and compressed cap rates for industrial properties of 6-6.5% (from their long-term historical average of 6.5-7.5%), industrial REIT managers have been finding it more difficult to acquire yield-accretive properties. 

Coupled with high liquidity and low interest rates, the mismatch in the pricing expectations of vendors and REIT managers has continued.

Here's more from CIMB:

For this reason, we expect to see fewer REITs reporting DPU growth through the acquisition of new assets in 3Q13.

Among the five industrial REITs under our coverage, only AREIT and MLT completed their previously-announced acquisitions in 3Q13 of a business park in Shanghai (with a rental guarantee of S$13.5m) for AREIT and The Box Centre in South Korea at an initial NPI yield of 8.4% for MLT in Jul.

No new acquisitions were announced in 3Q13.