Friday, 10 October 2014

why i avoid REITS?

I know reits are attractive for their yields and this is one way to gain a small ownership to a portfolio of rental income producing properties.

Personally I tend to avoid REITS. Here are some of my thoughts:

1) the reason I invest is because I want to get better returns for my money. that being the case, some of the blue chips such as SPH, Singtel, SIA Eng, ST Eng etc can also give me a decent yield, though might be slightly lower than REITS can offer

2) REITS have gearing. Sooner or later, interest rates are going to rise. And sooner or later, there would be rights issues. So if passive income is what I am after, I rather buy those blue chips such as those I mention above- no history of rights issue in their history, able to pay regular and increasing(this point is important to hedge against inflation), safety profile of blue chips.

3) REITS can give 4 times a year dividend. This can be overcome by buying different blue chips which pay at different times, thus income frequency can also be achieved.

So personally, I rather forgo that slightly higher yield of REITS and would tend to prefer those blue chips, if income is what I am looking for.

This is my personal view. I know people might not agree. But no harm having different views, right?

13 comments:

  1. You are not alone with this view. LOL!

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    1. Thanks for you reply.
      Glad that there are people who share this thinking.
      But the number of pple who believe that REIT can deliver are not small either.

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  2. You are very right. Indeed, imho, REITS are the last choices for the "gone fishing" type of portfolio ie buy and do nothing even if stock market were to shut for the next 5-10years.

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    1. Like it or not. REITS will force investors to take actions with their right issues from time to time. Can't really do nothing.

      Delete
  3. Hello Paul,

    REITs I find is a great cyclical play like property stocks.

    Used to own one REIT during the upswing, sold it last year as part of my sector rotation.

    At the right price and cycle, II wouldn't mind owning another REIT once again ;)

    There is a season for everything.

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    1. Smallest caps highest risk at height of crisis? Thats where homework comes in. Its those unfairly beaten down small caps whuch have high cash n assets n pays unskipped dividend year after year, which have greatest upside potential.
      Of cos during height of crisis, unskilled pple just hantam anything also would likely appear like a winner.
      Cheers!

      Delete
    2. Hi uncle temperament, the hallmark of blue chips is unskipped dividends and good blue chips differ from others from the ability to pay increasing dividend year after year. Examples are sia eng st engin sats jmh. There is a discernible pattern of dividend growth if u look at its past 10yr history.
      Back to ur qn now, personally i am vested in a few small caps like hupsteel, noel, singre, stamland, leemetal etc these are small caps but share certain characteristics of blue chips ie unskipped dividends for past decade with discernible pattern of increase over past decade. Those with hidden gems to unlock present additional bonus when it happens, but still continue collecting dividends even if it doesnt. Unlocking part comes as a bonus, personally not a main selection criteria, dividend part is.

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    3. Bad year like gfc n sars present good opportunity to assess company's strength n management's confidence n ability to pay dividend still. That i think is excellent and a must to observe

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    4. I forgot to mention tan chong heeton bo bee as stocks to watch.
      All of them is like seeing wet paint dry. Cheers!

      Delete
  4. I'm not completely against REITs, but have to be selective based on the asset portfolio.

    Currently I do not have any REIT in my portfolio. But I have some in mind if the sector becomes undervalued during a bearish market.

    Regards,
    Naro

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    Replies
    1. Hi naro, thanks for ur views.
      Care to share which reits you have in mind shd market permits?
      Thanks!

      Delete
  5. Hi Paul,

    I would look at A-REIT and K-REIT because their asset portfolio caters for spaces for corporations to function, rather than spaces which caters to consumers.


    A-REIT is because its asset portfolio caters mainly to industries. Whether its flatted factories, warehouses, business parks and innovation parks, it has all the different assets to provide space for industries across the value-chain of most industries. Furthermore, if I didn't remember wrongly from my research, during the financial crisis, the PB ratio of A-REITs was one of the highest among the REITs, though it was below 1 like the others as well.

    K-REIT is because its portfolio are mainly office spaces in the CBD and just outside CBD, catering mainly to the corporate functions and the financial services firms.

    With both these REITs, I think one can cover most of the corporate functions and industries that requires space to operate in Singapore.

    There are other REITs like Mapletree's and Capitaland's, but I did not research too much into them yet.

    Just my point of view.

    Regards,
    Naro

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  6. Hi Paul, totally agree, plus I am skeptical of the sponsors who control the reits and the manager ..

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