July capped another month of strong performance for Asia Pacific property stocks, with a total return of 6.4 percent. Impressively, seven months into 2017, the region has suffered only one month with negative returns, a paltry –0.3 percent return in June. With year-to-date returns through July of 26.5 percent as compared with global property returns of 17.2 percent, the Asia Pacific region is the best-performing region among global property companies. Generally, real estate companies have benefited from an unusual confluence of an improving global growth environment, a dovish yield curve that is keeping long-dated interest rates low, and supportive broader equity markets. While the strong performance primarily has been driven by a rebound in developer valuations globally, REITs have also posted positive returns, although at a more modest 8.6 percent through July (based on SNL Financial data, with quoted country returns in local currency, and regional indices quoted in US dollars).