Regardless of any other country-specific positive news, the Asia Pacific region was dominated by the Chinese market in July, as that country dealt with a massive stock market disruption and the subsequent end to a torrid run-up during the prior 12 months. Led by China’s 17 percent decline (based on the Shanghai Property Index), the result was weakness across the region, particularly in countries whose economies were most closely linked to China. Meanwhile, REITs within safe-haven developed markets, such as the United States and Europe, took advantage of the chaos. For the month, Asia Pacific property stocks swooned 3.6 percent and dragged down global property stocks to an essentially flat return of 0.04 percent. In contrast, global REITs were up 3.4 percent, while the United States and developed Europe were up 4.9 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively (based on SNL Financial data, with quoted returns in local currency).

On a country basis, Japan wa