This is among the reasons why the C-REIT market will “grow very fast” in the coming years, says Lim on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (Aprea) Singapore conference on March 25. “The problem with the Chinese market [now] is that demand is not there, because the market is not educated [about investing in REITs].”
The beauty of the REIT structure is that owners can attract capital while still controlling the portfolio assets, says John Lim, the industry veteran who co-founded real estate fund manager ARA Asset Management in 2002 and later co-founded Suntec REIT.
This feature will allow the Chinese REIT (C-REIT) market to include power plants, roads, airports, dams and other critical infrastructure in the future, he adds.
