Real estate investment trusts, or REITs, have done extremely well as an asset class. Since the very first Singapore REIT, Ascendas REIT, was listed back in 2002, there has been a slew of IPOs for different REITs covering a wide variety of sectors and geographies. The 43 REITs and trusts listed on the SGX generated an average total return of 23% in 2019 and ended the year with an average distribution yield of 6%.

Investors gravitate towards REITs due to their stable nature: REITs are essentially securitised bundles of investment properties that generate a steady, consistent rental income. Regulations stipulate that REITs need to pay out at least 90% of their earnings as dividends. As most REITs pay out either a quarterly or half-yearly dividend, they are viewed as pseudo-fixed income instruments for their predictability and stability of passive income. This fact, coupled with their hard-asset backing, lends the perception