SINGAPORE (Nov 3): Credit Suisse analysts Sakthi Siva and Kin Nang Chik are maintaining their “underweight” rating on Asia Pacific REITs even as valuations have fallen 12% over the past three months and are trading at 1.23 times book value. In Australia, valuations fell from 1.48 times book value at end July to 1.22 times book value currently. For Japan REITs, valuations fell from 1.74 times in February to 1.53 times book currently. More importantly, the lowest valuations were seen among Singapore REITs which fell from 1.02 times to 0.96 times book value, or 6% above the FY15 lows and below the lows of January 2014. The pair also added that despite the low valuations, Singapore’s corporate fundamentals remained poor, amid falling property prices and rising vacancy rates.

Source: The Edge Markets November 03, 2016 03:54 UTC