Money Australia - August 2019

(Barré) #1

Pam WalkleyREAL ESTAT


PamWalkley,foundingeditorofMoneyand
formerpropertyeditorwithTheAustralian
FinancialReview, hashands-onexperience
ofbuying,building,renovating,subdividing
andsellingproperty.

TE


Spice up your portfolio


I


t’sa goodtimeforAustralianreal
estateinvestors– manyofwhomare
obsessedwiththelocalhousingmar-
ket– toconsiderdiversifyingsomeoftheir
fundsintoglobalrealestate.Thelaunch
ontheASXearlierthisyearofa second
exchangetradedfund(ETF)concentrating
onworldpropertyhashelpedmakethisa
relativelyeasystrategytopursue.It’salso
veryaffordable,asyouneedonly$500to
buyintoanETF.
Aswell,thereareover 60 managedfunds
inthecategorytochoosefrom,according
toresearchfromMorningstar,andthetop
threeachievedone-yearreturnsofmore
than20%intheyeartoMay31.
Manysharemarketinvestorshave
embracedtheimportanceofincludingoff-
shoresharesintheirportfoliosgiventhe
localmarketaccountsforonly2%ofthe
worldwidebourse.Similarly,Australian
realestateinvestmenttrusts(A-REITs)
representonly3%oftheworld’sREITs.
VanEckAustralialaunchedVanEckVec-
torsFTSEInternationalProperty(Hedged)
(REIT)ontheASXinMarch.TheETF
givesinvestorsaccesstoa diversifiedport-
folioofinternationalpropertysecurities
fromdevelopedmarkets(exAustralia)with
returnshedgedintoAustraliandollars.
Theindexthatthefundseekstoreplicate


  • theFTSEEPRA/NAREITdevelopedex
    Australiarentalindex,AUDhedged(net
    tax)– captures 305 REITsrepresentingthe
    world’sdevelopedmarkets.Themanage-
    mentfeeis 0.43%.
    Listedpropertyhaslongbeena com-
    pellingassetclassforAustralianinvestors,
    accordingtoFTSE,becauseit provides
    regularincomestreams,diversificationand
    long-termcapitalappreciation.
    “Investorappetiteforaccesstointerna-
    tionalpropertystockscontinuestogrow,
    creatinga demandforindexesthatreflect
    thecommercialrealestatemarketwiththe
    addedliquidity,transparencyandregula-
    tionassociatedwithinvestinginpublicly
    tradedstocks,”EvanOng,FTSE’smanaging


usuallyrequirea moresignificantoutlay


  • often$20,000ormore– andthefees are
    usuallysignificantlyhigherthanforETFs.
    TheQuayGlobalRealEstateFund has
    returned9.67%a yearforthethreeyears
    toMay31,makingit thetopperformer
    overthatperiod,accordingtoMorningstar
    dataon 63 globalrealestatefunds.(See
    morningstar.com.auformoreinformation.)
    Quay’sone-yearreturnis 20.88%.
    Thefundinvestsin 30 to 60 realestate
    stocks,aimingtogeneratea realtotalreturn
    ofat least5%paaboveCPIoverfiveor more
    years,beforefeesandcosts.Geographically
    itstopthreeholdingsareintheUS(61.4%),
    theUK(10.3%)andAustralia(9.2%).Its
    biggestsectorinvestmentsaremanufac-
    turedhousing,multifamily/apartments and
    studentaccommodation(37.5%),storage
    (14.4%)andhealth(10.2%).Theminimum
    investmentis $20,000andit payshalf-yearly
    distributions.Themanagementfeeis 0.82%.
    It alsohasanmFundversionforinvestors
    whoprefertoinvestviatheASX.
    ResolutionCapitalGlobalProperty (unhe-
    dgedseries11)hasbeenthetopperformer
    overfiveyears,returning12.95%patoMay
    31,accordingtoMorningstar.Theone-year
    performanceis 18.4%.It givesinvestors
    exposuretotheunderlyingreturnsof some
    oftheworld’shighest-qualityrealestate
    assetsthrougha professionallymanaged
    portfolioofglobalREITsandproperty com-
    panies.Itsaimstoprovideinvestorswith
    income(twice-yearlydistributions)plus
    thepotentialforlong-termcapitalgrowth
    sourcedfromglobalreal-estate-based rev-
    enuestreams.Itsinvestmentsareconcen-
    tratedinthedevelopedmarketsofNorth
    America,theUK,EuropeandAsiaPacific.
    Theminimuminvestmentis $25,000 and
    themanagementfeeis 1.05%.


Exchange traded funds give investors a new opportunity to explore the world


director, ETP Relationships, Asia, said at
the VanEck fund’s launch.
Then new ETF joins the SPDR Dow Jones
Global Real Estate Fund (DJRE), which has
returned 10.3% a year to May 31 since it list-
ed in November 2013. The one-year return
is 16.01% and its management fee is 0.5%. It
aims to provide investment returns, before
fees and other costs, that closely correspond
to the performance of the Dow Jones Global
Select Real Estate Securities Index. It holds
more than 200 listed property companies,
with 58% in the US.
Unlike the VanEck fund, the SPDR ver-
sion also invests in Australian property
companies, which represent 5% of its port-
folio. Japanese companies make up 12.3% of
the portfolio, the second highest allocation.
The fund pays distributions twice a year
and has a dividend yield of 3.86% and is not
hedged. The VanEck ETF plans to pay divi-
dends quarterly.
Those looking to invest in an actively
managed portfolio of global property
assets, rather than passively replicate an
index, have an array of managed funds to
choose from. The downside is that these
Free download pdf