Singapore REITS

Kim Eng on 4 June 2012

Track record matters. The myth that S-REITs are good income-yielding instruments for retail investors has generated much debate. On the one hand, REITs proponents like the recurring distributions paid out from steady streams of rental income. On the other hand, naysayers argue that whatever REITs managers pay out in dividends, they will likely take back in the form of rights issues. We examined the total rate of return of the 10 largest S-REITs since their listing, namely, those with a trading history of at least five years, and put forward our pristine picks to ride through the impending economic down cycle.

Industrial and retail REITs top of the league. REITS in the more resilient subsectors like industrial and retail topped our league table, with CDL Hospitality Trusts, Frasers Centrepoint Trust and Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust the best performers. K-REIT Asia was the worst performer, given the numerous equity cash calls it made to fund acquisitions. While past performance may not guarantee future returns, we take the view that our league table does provide some insights into the track record of the individual S-REITs.

Good mix of stability and growth potential. Rental income resilience, total rate of return, accretive distributions and stable payout track record are some of the parameters we scrutinised by delving into the operating history of the S-REITs since their initial public offering. Barring a full-blown European debt crisis, we also think that it is unlikely that S-REITs will be de-rated to the levels seen during the global financial crisis (GFC) due to stronger balance sheets and the absence of credit tightening.

Four S-REITs to ride through turbulence. S-REITs currently trade at an average of 0.94x P/BV and 6.8% yield compared to their trough valuations of 0.34x P/BV and 17.2% yield seen at the height of the GFC. Our top four S-REITs are CapitaMall Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust in the retail subsector, and Ascendas REIT and Mapletree Logistics Trust in the industrial subsector. Our top SELLs are K-REIT Asia and CapitaCommercial Trust as we see further downside risk in their DPU which would render valuations unattractive.