The year's most resilient REITs

SINGAPORE (May 22):The best performer is Keppel DC REIT, up 16% year-to-date, followed by Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) and Ascendas REIT. While Keppel DC REIT is resilient because of its long weighted average lease expiries, and its double and triple net leases to data centre operators, MLT and Ascendas REIT are diversified geographically, and they have a diversified tenant base. Ecommerce has been viewed as a beneficiary of the global lock downs. But, as economies gradually open up, there could be a rebound and retail REITs such as CapitaLand Mall Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust could turn out to be this year’s dark horses. Generally though, REITs with the highest price/NAV ratios (see chart 2) may continue to outperform as their distributions have been the least impacted by circuit breakers and lockdowns.