Top 3 S-REITs' returns hit 26.9% in 2019

These trusts also collected a combined market cap of over $20b.

The three best-performing S-REITs saw an average total return of 26.9% in 2019, according to an SGX report. This brought its one-year and three-year total returns to 18.3% and 53.6%, respectively.

The three S-REITs are CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT), Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) and Suntec REIT, based on their market capitalisation, which combined amounts to over $20b.

In addition, it garnered $82.8m of average net property income in Q4, rising 8.4% YoY. These three trusts’ average gross revenue also grew 9.7% YoY to S$111.9m. In terms of distribution per unit (DPU), CCT leads at $0.0228, followed by MCT at $0.0246 and Suntec at $0.0247. They collected an average DPU of $0.0236.

The three REITs also averaged an aggregate leverage ratio of 35.4% as of Q4, compared to an average of 35.1% in Q3. Suntec REIT had the highest aggregate leverage ratio of 37.7%, whilst MCT had the lowest gearing of 33.4%.

Interest cover for the trio averaged 4.3 times in Q4, versus 4.5 times in Q3. CCT leads with its interest coverage ratio of 5.6 times, followed by MCT at 4.4 times.

Overall, Singapore listed 35 REITs, six stapled trusts and two property trusts. These trusts contributed 24% to day-to-day turnover of SGX over 2019. The 43 trusts maintained a combined market value of more than $111.9b, representing 12% of Singapore's stock market capitalisation of $937.8b over the same period.