February continued the resurgence of both Asia Pacific and global property stocks since December 2016, with the markets returning 4.2 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively. With the performance, the region’s property stocks have now returned 9.6 percent during January and February, while global property stocks have performed well, but have lagged the region, at a 5.9 percent total return. February’s strong return, and the overall start to the year, is likely because of generally flat yields, even as there were additional signs of better than expected economic stability across the globe, including the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and China (based on SNL Financial data, with quoted country returns in local currency, and regional indices quoted in US dollars). Overall, the property sector returns compare favourably to global stock total returns of 3.0 percent in February and 4.6 percent year-to-date, as per the MSCI World Index.

On a country basis, Chinese property st