As at the end of October 2017, Asia Pacific REITs have, in US-dollar terms, returned 5.2 percent, according to the GPR/APREA Investable REIT 100 Index. About two-thirds of the return came from dividends, in line with our expectation that Asia Pacific REITs generate between 4.5 percent and 6.0 percent of dividends per year.

The headline number, however, masks the difference in country performance. In local currency terms, Australia has returned 2.2 percent, Japan –9.8 percent, and Singapore 22.9 percent. Including currency effects, Australia is up 8.1 percent, Japan is down 7.2 percent, and Singapore is up 30.3 percent. Although the GPR/APREA index does not report a Hong Kong subindex, our calculations show the three Hong Kong REITs in the index have returned about 30 percent, on a weighted-average basis. We believe the strong showings in Singapore and Hong Kong are partially due to the markets’ weaker performances in fourth quarter 2016. In addition, rental trends in both