Things are looking up for office REITs.
The Singapore government recently announced a relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions that will allow up to 75% of staff to return to their offices.
This is up from 50% before 29 March.
Larger gatherings of up to 10 people are also allowed to dine in, thereby helping to encourage face-to-face meetings among colleagues.
While telecommuting is still a popular option for many businesses that have successfully pivoted during the last two years, the option to return to the office means that landlords should see higher office occupancies in the coming months.
We decided to compare two REITs with both retail and commercial properties to see how they stack up against each other.
They are — CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (SGX: C38U), or CICT, and Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX: N2IU), or MCT.
Portfolio composition
First, we looked at the portfolio composition for both REITs....