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Link, Yuexiu and SF set up Hong Kong guild for Reits to list and burnish city’s hub status for real estate investment trusts
- City’s Reit sector has grown five times between 2005 and July this year to US$26.7 billion, says Paul Chan
- Hope to propel the Hong Kong Reit industry to greater prominence globally, Link Reit CEO and body chairman says
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Link Reit, Asia’s largest real estate investment trust (Reit), Yuexiu Reit and SF Reit have joined hands to co-found the Hong Kong Reits Association (HKREITA) and build a collaborative platform for the city’s HK$210 billion (US$26.7 billion) Reit sector, and strengthen Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre.
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The association will encourage more listings by Reits in the city and push for financial institutions to cover the sector more deeply for better analysis, George Hongchoy, Link Reit’s CEO and HKREITA’s chairman, said at a briefing on Thursday marking its launch.
“We hope that HKREITA can act as an open platform and rally all Reit market practitioners working alongside regulators and other stakeholders to propel the Hong Kong Reit industry to greater prominence among its global peers,” he said.
A Reit is a collective investment scheme that aims to deliver recurrent income to investors through investment in a portfolio of income-generating properties such as shopping malls, offices, hotels and service flats. Link and Yuexiu are among the oldest Reits in the city, listing in 2005, while SF Reit is the newest.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, who was present at the event on Thursday, said the market value of the city’s Reit sector had risen five times between 2005 and July this year to HK$210 billion. The total return index from the Hang Seng Reit Index had grown seven times since its launch in 2008, outperforming the two times growth in the gross total return index recorded by the Hang Seng Index, Chan added.
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Regulators had relaxed rules governing Reits and the government was offering fee subsidies for new listings to promote the sector’s development, Chan said.
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