S-REITs drew $311.7m net inflows in 8M19

Mapletree Commercial Trust registered an inflow of $45.8m.

S-REITS were the top net buy sector in August after garnering total institutional flows of $124.6m during the month, bringing the sector’s total net inflow to $311.7m for the first eight months of the year, SGX data revealed.

Also read: Investors pool cash into S-REITs amidst dovish Fed stance

So far, the sector saw the highest inflows in April and July at $147.9m and $209.2m, respectively.

Mapletree Commercial Trust was the top institutional net buy amongst REITs in August, registering an inflow of $45.8m. In a statement, FTSE Russel announced that Mapletree will join the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) starting on 23 September, replacing Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, following the September quarterly review of the STI constituents.

Along with Mapletree, CapitaLand Commercial Trust ($39.5m), Ascendas REIT ($38.5m) and CapitaLand Mall Trust ($26.9m) accounted for four of the top 10 institutional net buy stocks during the month.

Meanwhile, the iEdge S-REIT Index--a free-float, market capitalisation-weighted index that tracks the performance of REITs listed on SGX--has clocked total returns of 25.5% YTD. Collectively, the iEdge S-REIT Index's 36 constituents have a combined market capitalisation of nearly $100b.

Also read: S-REITs DPU to grow 2% in 2020

SGX named the five constituents with the highest dividend indicated yields in the iEdge S-REIT Index to be Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (10.4%), First REIT (8.6%), Soilbuild Business Trust (8.6%), EC World REIT (8.3%), and iREIT Global (7.9%). Accordingly, these five trusts averaged an indicated yield of 8.8%, which is more than double the benchmark STI's indicated yield of about 4%.

On the other hand, the five index constituents with the lowest indicated yields were CapitaLand Commercial Trust (4.1%), Mapletree Commercial Trust (4.1%), Keppel DC REIT (4.2%), Parkway Life REIT (4.2%), and CapitaLand Mall Trust (4.4%). These trusts have averaged an indicated yield of 4.2%.

In the YTD terms, the five best-performing constituents of the index were Ascendas Hospitality Trust (+45.3%), Mapletree Commercial Trust (+40.8%), Ascendas India Trust (+39.1%), Keppel DC REIT (+38.3%) and Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (+34.9%). The five have averaged a total return of +39.7% in the YTD, bringing their one-year and three-year total returns to +31.7% and +53.4% respectively, noted SGX.

In contrast, the five least-performing constituents of the index: Soilbuild Business Trust (-0.7%), Frasers Hospitality Trust (+4.6%), ESR-REIT (+6.6%), iREIT Global (+10.9%) and EC World REIT (+11.6%). SGX data revealed that they averaged a positive 6.6% total return over the period.