Australia REITs Have Funds, Hunger; Eye Overseas Assets
Forexyard reports: Australian property firms and pension funds, armed with a multi-billion dollar warchest, are poised to go on a shopping spree, eyeing distressed real estate targets from the United States to across Asia.
Money is plentiful and credit is cheap and there is no shortage of potential targets following the seizure in U.S. real estate markets in recent years.
Australian real estate companies were among the first to tap stock markets for fresh capital after their heavy borrowing and currency hedging strategy backfired in late 2007, triggering a massive retreat of property firms like Centro Properties Group from overseas.
Now, the country's top 12 real estate investment trusts (REITs) such as Goodman Group have a total AUD$19 billion (USD$17.3 billion) in spare liquidity plus the cash retained from having trimmed dividend payouts.
REITS are funds which invest in property and pay most of the rent to shareholders as dividends. They appeal to investors who want regular dividends, but higher than yields on safer government bonds, and offer capital gains if property prices rise.
"I think the major wave of restructuring and asset sales is over," said Dan Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital Analytics. "We're about to turn a corner and you could see some Australian investors being in more of a position to acquire some of the assets over the next 12 months."
View the full article on Forexyard: Australia REITs Have Funds, Hunger; Eye Overseas Assets
Articles related to this topic:
Flush REITs Have Loads Of Cash, Little To Spend It On
Blackstone Considers Joining Simon Property's Bid for GGP
Istithmar World Capital Defaults on Property in Times Square
General Growth Gets an Extension
REITs See Gains in February
California Public Pension Funds Take New Hits On Real Estate Investments
REITs - Blind Pool Party
Posted by: Mark Alferman