Some cheer for REITs unitholders

Unitholders of REITs are likely to cheer the Budget – for something that wasn’t announced.

In contrast to last year when the government urged landlords to provide relief to their tenants grappling with the crisis, there was no such measure announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in his Budget 2021 speech.

As such, the distributable incomes of the REITs, held low by rental relief, could rebound. In particular, retail REITs and industrial REITs with SME tenants could stand to benefit.