As a follow up to the series of Understanding Singapore REITs, I will also be introducing another series on understanding Malaysia REITs (MREITs). Malaysia REITs are fairly new compared to US and Singapore. The first REIT, Axis REIT was listed on Bursa Malaysia in 2005.  MREITs like all other REITs in the world are basically public listed entities which are in the business of owning and managing real estate. MREITs get to pay dividends out of pre-tax income, so it makes sense that most MREITs will try to pay out 90-100% of the income to avoid corporate taxation. The key difference between Singapore REITs and Malaysia REITs is that Singapore REIT dividends are non-taxable for resident investors while Malaysia REITs have a 10% withholding tax on REIT dividends. To begin with, we need to understand that Malaysia REITs too fall into various categories based on different types of ......