Martin Lee @ Sg
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Investing in Reits or Business Trust

Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) and business trusts are two separate investment vehicles that aim to provide investors with a steady stream of income.

The former, as the name implies, hold mainly property. The assets are held in trust by a trustee and a manager is appointed to manage the Reit. The rental income is used to pay out dividends to unit holders.

Business trusts, on the other hand, is a hybrid structure consisting of a business and a trust. Typically, the business will be in a sector that provides stable income like utilities. The trustee has legal ownership of the assets, and is also the manager.

This sponsored article Reits or Business Trust by MoneySense looks at the two different structures in more details and also spells out the key differences.

Of the many different kinds of risks mentioned, I would like to highlight specifically leverage risk. This is the part where many Reits and even business trusts have failed to manage prudently. You can refer to my article Are Singapore Reits a Good Investment? and bear some of those points in mind when selecting a Reit or business trust entity to invest in.

 

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2 comments
AK71 says 12 years ago

I enjoyed the sponsored article. Thank you for the link. ๐Ÿ™‚

The current low interest rate environment is a positive for REITs. The spectre of further inflation is another positive. So, I am investing accordingly.

My favourites remain industrial properties S-REITs for their superior distribution yields. Of course, not all are equal in strength and I recently blogged about them. Perhaps, you could share your views on these. ๐Ÿ™‚

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Dandy P says 12 years ago

Unfortunately interest rates are glued to the floor, so despite the negatives, there is still demand.

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