Investing in the US Office space taught me a lesson. Its not about the US real estate cycle but the need to understand the CAPEX requirement of the REITs and the building age profile. For these US office REITs, capital expenditure has to be spent to ensure the property is refreshed As a building ages, more capital expenditure is needed. And CAPEX is a cash expenditure. It got me wondering why does Keppel Pacific Oak (KORE) require so much CAPEX as compared to Manulife US and PRIME US REITs. A further delve into the IPO prospectus reveals an area investors often not looked at. KORE Building Age MUST Building Age PRIME US Building Age Different REIT, Different Age If one looks at the age of the different buildings each REIT owns, one can notice KORE has a significant number of properties built in the early 80s, putting it as the oldest profile. This is followed by MUST and then PRIME...