Chinese real estate and property-related stocks have been dominating headlines over the past week as investors remain cautious and watch for updates.

Closer to home, there are four S-REITs which have their entire portfolio of assets in China – CapitaLand China Trust, Sasseur REIT, EC World REIT, and BHG Retail REIT.

Together the four S-Reits have generated -0.9 per cent in average price returns over the past week, comparatively to the swings of Chinese property stocks.

The Reits have averaged 8.0 per cent in total returns in the year-to-date, 6.1 per cent in average distribution yields, and an average gearing ratio of 34.1 per cent which is lower than the sector average of 37.4 per cent.

S-Reits have a regulated leverage limited of 50 per cent.

CapitaLand China Trust (CLCT) is the largest multi-asset China focused S-Reit with an expanded mandate from a pure retail Reit into a diversified portfolio of retail and business park assets since earlier this year.

Its Sponsor is CapitaLand Investment Limited, a leading global real estate investment manager, which made its trading debut on the SGX last week.

CLCT has a gearing ratio of 35.9 per cent and average term to maturity of 3.80 years, with the majority of the refinancing requirements in 2021 completed.

It has 78 per cent of its total term loans on fixed interest rates and has hedged approximately 55 per cent of its undistributed income to reduce foreign currency fluctuations.

Sasseur Reit operates four outlet malls located in Chongqing, Bishan, Hefei and Kunming and is Asia's first outlet mall Reit.

The Reit has a gearing ratio of 27.8 per cent which is the lowest across the S-Reits sector and sees this as providing ample debt headroom for potential acquisitions.

Sasseur Reit has an average debt to maturity of 1.7 years and an interest coverage ratio of 4.5 times as at June 30, 2021 which has improved from 4.0 times in Dec 31, 2020.

Its weighted average cost of debt reduced to 4.4 per cent per annum for H1 2021, from 5.3 per cent per annum in H1 2020.

EC World Reit has a diversified portfolio of assets used primarily for e-commerce, supply-chain management and logistics purposes in the e-commerce clusters of Hangzhou and Wuhan.

The Reit has a gearing ratio of 37.6 per cent, weighted average debt maturity of 1.13 years and interest coverage ratio of 2.86 times.

The Reit manager has expressed in its latest financial results that it will continue to actively explore and diversify sources of funding and hedging instruments to optimise its capital structure.

BHG Retail Reit has a diversified portfolio of six retail properties in Beijing, Chengdu, Hefei, Xining and Dalian. It has a gearing ratio of 34.9 per cent.

BHG Retail Reit has an average cost of debt at 3.7 per cent and interest coverage ratio of 2.6 times.

Over 80 per cent of its borrowings are denominated in Singapore dollars and US dollars and about 60 per cent of offshore loans are hedged via interest rate swaps. 

REIT Watch is a weekly column on The Business Times, read the original version.