Hot Singapore REITs Still Seen Offering Attractive Yields

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#1
(This story has been posted on The Wall Street Journal Online's Market Beat blog at http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat.)

By Leslie Shaffer

If dividend stocks are sexy, Singapore's real-estate investment trusts just might be Ryan Gosling.

But while Singapore-listed REITs may seem expensive after a rally over the past year or so, they aren't when compared with equities and bonds, says Tim Gibson, head of Asian property equities at Henderson Global Investors, which manages US$106.7 billion. "They should sit somewhere between the two."

The FTSE ST REIT index tacked on 5.1% in the first quarter and was up 30.7% for the year ending March 31.

REITs are generally required to pay out much of the income from their underlying properties as dividends. Mr. Gibson says S-REITs offer the highest yields, both on an absolute basis and compared with the country's five-year government bonds. While Australian REITs' yields come close, the country's bond yields are higher than Singapore's, he says.

The yield on the FTSE ST REIT Index is around 5.17%, while the five-year Singapore bond yields around 0.5% and the STI's dividend yield is around 2.8%.

"As long as interest rates remain under control, S-REITs are in the sweet spot to continue their strong performance," Mr. Gibson says.

Henderson's new Global Property Income Fund will invest around 25% of its assets in Singapore-listed REITs, compared with 44% in the U.S., 9.5% in continental Europe and 5.0% in Japan.

S-REITs' income is growing despite Singapore's slowing economic growth, he says, partly because many are trading above their net asset values, meaning they can issue equity to finance acquisitions. Meanwhile, leases signed during the global financial crisis are now being renewed at higher rates and many S-REITs have begun buying assets outside the land-starved city-state, he says.

Mr. Gibson likes the office markets, citing the relatively low supply in Singapore and the length of time needed to create new supply. He tips Suntec REIT as one of the cheapest plays, offering a 5.5% dividend yield and an ongoing asset enhancement which should increase asset yield and cash flow. Henderson also holds CDL Hospitality Trusts.

Mr. Gibson says he is also positive on Singapore's industrial REITs, whose offerings are sophisticated and multi-story.

Copyright © 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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#2
Kinda one side article which does not look at the leverage which some of the reits are operating under... and the impact to these reits when interest rates start to rise. People are easily seduced by high dpu numbers when compare to SG bonds (which I think is an unfair comparison when they are different asset classes with different risks)
You can count on the greed of man for the next recession to happen.
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#3
The importance is the sustainability of this payout and whether the payout will continue to rise.
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#4
It's a new property fund. Sell flower say flower nice loh
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#5
Buying REIT now dont have any safety margin. However if you have bought REIT one year ago I will think it is better to hold on to it as nobody know where is the summit. Just set ur minimum profit like 10% off peak, if hit then clear position.
For interest rate I dont really think it will be raise very soon - looking at payroll data US recovery still at tortoise pace. It is not likely US economic can withstand interest rate raise.
If you check the peak of REIT in 2007 - I think CMT hit peak of around 4 buck and DPU annually around 15 cents which is less than 4%
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#6
(10-04-2013, 09:58 PM)a74henry Wrote: The importance is the sustainability of this payout and whether the payout will continue to rise.

IMO, the importance is not the sustainability of the payout; this is just the by-product. If the reit is highly leverage and either 1) interest rates rises or 2) the rentals go down due to macro factors, they will have to borrow more, either from the equity markets through rights or more debt. Either way, it will depress the price, and of course, the dpu.


vested in FEHT at ipo
You can count on the greed of man for the next recession to happen.
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#7
(11-04-2013, 07:34 AM)LionFlyer Wrote: IMO, the importance is not the sustainability of the payout; this is just the by-product. If the reit is highly leverage and either 1) interest rates rises or 2) the rentals go down due to macro factors, they will have to borrow more, either from the equity markets through rights or more debt. Either way, it will depress the price, and of course, the dpu.

I think we are talking about the same difference here. We have to drill down to the fundamentals to assess if the DPU is sustainable, and the drivers would include (but are not limited to) macro factors and interest rates.

But with REITs in generally having a helluva party right now, I would think many retail investors would ignore such aspects.... Tongue
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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