OREANDA-NEWS. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) raise capital to purchase primarily real estate assets, usually established with a view to generating income for unit holders of the fund. This allows individual investors to access real property assets, and share the benefits and risks of owning a portfolio of properties, which typically distribute income at regular intervals through dividends.

Singapore’s REIT Sector comprises 31 REITs and six Stapled Trusts. Two REITs – Manulife US REIT and Frasers Logistics & Industrial Trust – were listed recently on Singapore Exchange, on 20 May and 21 June respectively.

Eight REITs listed on SGX are categorised by the Global Industry Classification System (GICS®) as Industrial REITs. Industrial REITs are defined as trusts which are engaged in the acquisition, development, ownership, leasing, management and operation of industrial properties. This includes companies operating industrial warehouses and distribution properties. Singapore’s eight Industrial REITs have a combined market capitalisation of S$15.5 billion.

The five best performers among Singapore’s Industrial REITs in the year-to-date were Mapletree Industrial Trust (+11.1%), Ascendas REIT (+2.7%), Mapletree Logistics Trust (+1.7%), AIMS AMP Capital Industrial REIT (+1.4%) and Cambridge Industrial Trust (-2.1%). These trusts were also among the top five performers in the last 12 months.

The five trusts with the highest price-to-book ratios were Mapletree Industrial Trust,  Ascendas REIT, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Cache Logistics Trust and AIMS AMP Capital Industrial REIT. The average year-to-date performance of these five stocks stood at 2.3%.

The five trusts with the highest distribution yields were Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Industrial REIT (+10.4%), Cache Logistics Trust (+9.8%), AIMS AMP Capital Industrial REIT (+8.7%), Cambridge Industrial Trust (+8.3%) and Mapletree Logistics Trust (+7.4%). These five stocks averaged a dividend yield of 8.9% and an average year-to-date decline of 4.9%.

Two REITs categorised as Diversified REITs under GICS®– Soilbuild Business Space REIT and Viva Industrial Trust – are closely associated with the industrial segment, as their business parks are mostly for industrial use. According to GICS®, a Diversified REIT refers to a trust with significantly diversified operations across two or more property types.

In the 2016 year-to-date, Viva Industrial Trust generated a total return of 3.2%, while Soilbuild REIT registered a decline of 10.5%. Viva and Soilbuild maintain distribution yields of 9.2% and 9.4% respectively.

The table below details the eight Industrial REITs sorted by ?name. Clicking on each trust will take you to its profile page on SGX StockFacts.