Thomson Reuters, Global Property Research, a real estate index specialist and Asia Pacific Real Estate Association have launched the Asia Pacific Real Estate Composite Indices, a new benchmark for real estate in the APAC region.

According to a statement released by the firms, the index family has been developed with established investors in Asia Pacific real estate and is differentiated by its value proposition, as follows:

-- It strikes a different balance between “income” and “growth” companies, recognising the importance of developers in the Asian market and the need for growth companies to be taken into account;

-- It covers a broader set of countries than available elsewhere, 13 in total (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand);

-- It includes Asian REITs reflecting their growing importance as they outperform both local Asian stock markets and property in the western world;

--It includes high growth as well as the typical high dividend yielding companies associated with real estate.

Breaking new ground

The TR/GPR/APREA composite index family is the first of its kind and represents a significant step forward in addressing the benchmarking needs of the investment community, Thompson Reuters said. The index family is based on the total return of Asia Pacific property stocks, weighted by free-float market capitalisation, in a way that represents the return characteristics of the overall Asia Pacific property stock sector.

“With real estate equity returns outperforming conventional equities in Asia Pacific, the sector is enjoying a revival and increased investment,” Lucas Garland, head of indices product management at Thomson Reuters, said.

“We are thrilled to extend our real estate collaboration to include the regional industry body, ensuring that together we are able to provide indices which truly reflect the Asia Pacific property landscape and are ideal to provide global and local investors with liquid access to the asset class,” he continued.

Lim Swe Guan, chairman of APREA, added: “The TR/GPR/APREA composite index family meets an essential need as a benchmark and portfolio management tool truly representative of Asia Pacific listed real estate, and it is being introduced at a very important time with Asian investors in particular expected to expand their exposure to property and non-Asian investors expected to increase their exposure to Asian real estate.”

Global Property Research specialises in the creation of tailor-made indices, available in various formats. The firm provides over 3,500 index series to benchmark investments in the listed real estate sector.

The Asia Pacific Real Estate Association is a non-profit industry association that represents and promotes the real estate asset class in the Asia Pacific region. It is the industry body for the suppliers and users of capital in the real estate sector.