SINGAPORE (Mar 13): With the US Federal Funds Rate rushing towards zero, and 10- year US treasury bonds at their lowest yields ever, the S-REITs with pure US assets should have held up better. But no. Instead, a looming recession on the horizon spooked investors, who sold down the US REITs.
Since interest rates are falling, there is likely to be no impact from a potential expansion in capitalisation rates. The only problem is the outlook for rents. If the outlook deteriorates, that could hit the capital values of the properties in these US REITs.
It was no surprise that the top losers this year are hospitality trusts with US assets, followed by hospitality trusts with Singapore assets. Occupancy rates for some of the hotels in Singapore are reportedly down to 40%. On the other hand, both Far East Hospitality Trust and CDL Hospitality Trusts have minimum rent guarantees and master leases from their sponsors which provides a floor.
Eagle Hospitality Trust was likely impacted by selling from major unitholders. A married deal of 69 million EHT units at 20.5 cents took place on March 11 this year. Volume for the day spiked to 92 million units. In an SGX filing on March 12, EHT’s manager announced that Gordon and Celine Tang had traded two blocks of units, 69 million and 20 million respectively, eventually raising their stake from 5.88% to 13.8%.
Keppel DC REIT, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Ascendas REIT bucked the trend, notching up double digit gains since the start of the year.
