A few of the SET listed property funds seem too good to be true and so I wonder if Im missing something. For example, QHPF is currently showing a dividend yield of 7.8% according to this link http://www.set.or.th/set/factsheet.do?symbol=QHPF&language=en&country=US
These funds appear (to me at least) to be relatively low risk, and they are managed by reputable companies such as Quality Houses, Land & Houses. It seems a no-brainer compared to the pitiful interest we receive from bank deposits. I know there is always some capital risk but at the end of the day these funds have significant assets as they own these buildings in central Bangkok (well I think they do), so I guess the capital risk is much lower than a normal trading company. Or am I missing something? Any negative or positive thoughts guys?

One key point to bear in mind is that some of the investments held are leasehold and not owned. Hence for some of the funds you are effectively receiving some of your capital back. For example an investment in a leasehold property for a 20 year lease will reduce to zero value over that 20 years. 

 

I've looked at property collective investments a few times in Thailand. There's also a few threads on here about them. They do pay good headline dividend yields but you really need to analyse exactly what the underlying property portfolio is. Often in Thailand they are narrow in focus and not well diversified. I also find it difficult to get good transparent info of exactly what all the underlyings are - often the prospectuses are in Thai and while my Thai is good I haven't the patience to read them all, and am wary of missing something given the technical nature.

 

In the end I get my Thai baht asset exposure mainly THB equities and cash. (THB Fixed income/bond yields here are poor).

 

For Asian property exposure, I opted for REITs in Singapore and Australia with harder currencies and more transparent reporting. In addition well regulated. eg

 

ABP in Australia with 6.5% yield

ART, FCT, FCOT in Singapore: with 5.9% - 6.4% yields

 

All are individually actually quite narrow in focus, but OK as part of a portfolio with a few of them. In addition to the steady yields I'm sat on capital appreciation too.

 

Cheers

Fletch

Edited August 14, 201411 yr by fletchsmile

Did a quick search of earlier posts. Below is one with a few leads...

 

I look at this from time to time. It's a sector I'm interested in just haven't got round to it. Just to share a few things I came across:

 

For REITs they are relatively new in Thailand and the market not developed. The framework is in place but not many.

 

Before that there were Property Fund For Public Offering (PFPO). These are probably the ones you've seen. They are quite narrow in focus as you say, so you want to probably have a few of them if you're diversifying. Also people need to be careful that some are leasehold so the high yields you get also include some return of capital.

 

On the SET, there's a new sector since Jan of this year (PFUND) that includes these.

 

There's also a list here under PF&REIT : Property Fund & REITs which lists all the SET companies in the sector

http://marketdata.se...&sector=PF

 

and some background...

http://www.set.or.th...system_p10.html

 

Siri are also launching an IPO for one this month

https://www.set.or.t...o_propfund.html

 

Tesco launched a REIT which if I recall was yielding around 6% to 7%. As it had the name Tesco involved I'd expect some degree of transparency and standards. UOB/ING have been linked with a couple, which again nice to see a decent name linked to.

http://www.uobamth.c...opertyFunds.asp

 

Anyway let us know how you get on, as it's something I'm also interested in, when I get round to it...

 

Cheers

Fletch

Interesting.