Units in US office REITs listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) rose after US President Donald Trump issued a mandate for federal workers to return to the office full-time.
“We are going to make government work better, and that starts with bringing everyone back to the office," states Trump.
Units in Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT (KORE), which owns freehold office buildings and business campuses in cities such as Sacramento, Denver, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Houston and Orlando, closed 3.5 US cents or 15.9% higher at 25.5 US cents on Jan 21.
Similarly, units in Manulife US REIT (MUST) closed 1.3 US cents higher or 14.77% up at 10.1 US cents on the same day. MUST owns a portfolio of 10 office properties in the states of Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington D.C. On Jan 10, however, the REIT announced that it would report a loss for the FY2024 ended Dec 31, 2024, from fair value losses on its depreciating portfolio. Based on the year-end 2024 valuations, MUST’s portfolio valuation fell by 9.3% or US$116.6 million ($158.57 million) to US$1.14 billion down from US$1.25 billion as at Dec 31, 2023.
At the same time, units in Prime US REIT , which owns 13 prime US offices across 12 key US office markets, closed 2.1 US cents higher or 12.21% up at 19.3 US cents on Jan 21.
UOB Kay Hian maintained its “buy” calls for KORE and Prime US REIT with unchanged target prices of 32 US cents and 33 US cents respectively after the executive order.
