Australia (15.7%), Thailand (10.7%) and Singapore (10.3%) did the heaviest lifting
By Jerone Vreeker, Managing Director at Global Property Research
Dec 7, 2023 – Optimism returned with a vengeance in November 2023, as cooling inflation readings raised expectations for future Fed rate cuts, boosting Asia-Pacific REITs. The GPR/APREA Composite REIT index climbed 9.2% in USD terms. At the national level, Australia (15.7%), Thailand (10.7%) and Singapore (10.3%) climbed the most, with all other relevant countries up for the month as well. Additionally, the underperformance for Asia-Pacific REITs versus regional equities, which rose 7.8%, eased a bit. At the country level, the total return performances for China (6.4%), Japan (4.4%), Malaysia (4.2%) and Hong Kong (-9.0%) were below the regional average.
The table below shows the total return performances realized in the previous month for the various currencies available for the GPR/APREA Composite REIT Index.
| EUR | JPY | LOC | USD | |
| GPR/APREA Composite REIT Index | 5.8% | 6.6% | 6.0% | 9.2% |
Retail (10.4%), Industrial (10.1%) and Office (8.0%) were the three top-performing sectors in November 2023:
| DIV | HCR | HOT | IND | OFF | OTH | RES | RET | |
| GPR/APREA Composite REIT Index | 7.8% | 5.2% | 5.5% | 10.1% | 8.0% | n/a | 6.2% | 10.4% |
The best-performing REITs were Cromwell Property Group (AUS: 44.0%), Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT (SGP; 38.6%), Elite Commercial REIT (SGP; 33.8%), Prime US REIT (SGP; 32.3%) and Growthpoint Properties Australia (AUS; 23.3%). The worst performances came from Sunlight REIT (HKG; -8.2%), Regal REIT (HKG; -5.9%), AREIT Inc (PHL; -5.2%), Australian Unity Office Fund (AUS; -5.1%) and Thailand Prime Property Freehold and Leasehold REIT (THA; -4.4%).
