When you retire, it’s important to have a source of passive income that can help to sustain your current lifestyle.
REITs fit this bill perfectly as they generate a consistent, stable source of dividends that go straight into your bank account.
However, it’s important to select resilient REITs with strong sponsors that can weather occasional economic downturns.
These REITs should also have a good distribution yield that can help you beat inflation.
Here are four REITs you can consider adding to your retirement portfolio.
CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (SGX: C38U)
CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, or CICT, is a retail and commercial REIT with a total of 26 properties.
21 are located in Singapore, two in Frankfurt, Germany, and three in Australia.
CICT’s total assets under management (AUM) stood at S$26 billion as of 31 December 2024, and the REIT is supported by a strong sponsor in blue-chip CapitaLand Investment Limited (SGX: 9CI).
Gross revenue inched up 1.7% year on year to S$1.59 billion while net property income (NPI) rose 3.4% year on year to S$1.15 billion.
Distribution per unit (DPU) inched up 1.2% year on year to S$0.1088.
The retail and commercial REIT provides a trailing distribution yield of 5%.
CICT announced a solid business update for the first quarter of 2025 (1Q 2025).
Both revenue and NPI would have increased year on year if the income from 21 Collyer Quay, which was divested, was excluded.
Portfolio occupancy stood high at 96.4% for the quarter, with a high portfolio weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 3.2 years.
For 1Q 2025, CICT enjoyed a positive rental reversion of 10.4% for its retail portfolio and 5.4% for its office portfolio.
For the retail operating metrics, both tenant sales and shopper traffic saw a 17.5% and 23% year-on-year increase, respectively, for 1Q 2025.
Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX: ME8U)
Mapletree Industrial Trust, or MIT, is an industrial REIT with a portfolio of 141 properties across six property segments.
Its AUM stood at S$9.1 billion as of 31 March 2025 and has a tenant base of more than 2,000 tenants.
MIT is backed by a strong sponsor in Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd, an investment firm that owns and manages S$77.5 billion of properties as of 31 March 2024.
Gross revenue for fiscal 2025 (FY2025) ending 31 March 2025 rose 2.1% year on year to S$711.8 million.
NPI inched up 2% year on year to S$531.5 million while DPU crept up 1% year on year to S$0.1357.
Based on MIT’s unit price of S$1.95, the industrial REIT’s units have a trailing distribution yield of 7%.
The REIT has an aggregate leverage of 40.1% with an average borrowing cost of 3%, allowing the REIT to continue tapping into debt for more acquisitions.
MIT’s Singapore portfolio enjoyed a weighted average positive rental reversion of 8.1% for renewal leases.
The manager just divested a single-storey data centre in the US at US$11.8 million, a premium to its valuation.
The proceeds will be used to pare down debt or to fund working capital requirements.
Keppel DC REIT (SGX: AJBU)
Keppel DC REIT is a data centre REIT with a portfolio of 24 data centres spread across 10 countries.
The REIT’s AUM stood at approximately S$4.9 billion as of 31 March 2025.
Keppel DC REIT not only boasts a strong sponsor in asset manager Keppel Ltd (SGX: BN4) but also reported a robust set of earnings for 1Q 2025.
Gross revenue jumped 22.6% year on year to S$102.2 million while NPI climbed 24.1% year on year to S$88.1 million.
DPU increased by 14.2% year on year to S$0.02503.
Keppel DC REIT provides a forward distribution yield of 4.4% based on a unit price of S$2.30.
The data centre REIT boasted a high portfolio occupancy rate of 96.5% as of 31 March 2025.
The portfolio’s WALE was also long at 7.1 years.
The good news is that the portfolio’s rental reversion came in at 7% even though there were no major contract renewals during the quarter.
The data centre sectors should see continuous strong demand as both artificial intelligence and widespread digitalisation drive demand for data storage.
Frasers Centrepoint Trust (SGX: J69U)
Frasers Centrepoint Trust, or FCT, is a retail REIT with a portfolio of nine suburban malls and an office building in Singapore.
The REIT’s total AUM stood at S$7.1 billion as of 31 March 2025.
FCT’s sponsor is a reputable real estate development and investment firm, Frasers Property Limited (SGX: TQ5), which has total assets of around S$39.6 billion as of 30 September 2024.
Gross revenue for the first half of fiscal 2025 (1H FY2025) rose 7.1% year on year to S$184.4 million.
The higher revenue was contributed by renewed and new leases signed that drew in higher rental income.
NPI improved by 7.3% year on year to S$133.7 million while DPU inched up 0.5% year on year to S$0.06054.
The annualised DPU stands at S$0.12108, giving FCT’s units a forward distribution yield of 5.5%.
FCT’s committed portfolio occupancy stood at 99.5%, and the retail REIT also enjoyed a positive rental reversion of 9% for 1H FY2025.
In addition, FCT’s malls also saw shopper traffic increase by 1% year on year while tenant sales increased by 3.3% year on year.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of Mapletree Industrial Trust and Keppel DC REIT.
