A Safe Market for Real Estate Investment
An increasing number of South Korean securities companies and asset management firms are releasing products based on the Singapore REITs market, which has grown to approximately 90 trillion won with the government backing.
For example, Korea Investment Management listed the KINDEX Singapore REITs ETF in the second half of last year and listed another ETF for investment in Singapore REITs and South Korean bonds in December last year. Likewise, Korea Investment & Securities launched a wrap account including Singapore and U.S. REITs as major investment targets.
Early this month, Meritz Asset Management started the sale of a global REITs fund investing in the United States and Hong Kong as well as Singapore. Samsung Securities, in the meantime, opened a Singapore stock trading service on Feb. 13.
South Korean investors’ demand for Singapore-listed REITs is likely to continue to increase. “The REITs market is one of the most attractive segments of the Singapore stock market and its dividend yield is very high,” Samsung Securities explained, adding, “Specifically, the average yield is more than 6 percent, about 50 percent higher than those of U.S. and Japanese REITs.”
As of the end of 2019, a total of 42 REITs products were listed on the Singapore stock market. The total market cap of the products is approximately 90 trillion won, equivalent to 14 percent or so of the aggregate value of the market.