If you're looking to gain some market exposure to the ASX property sector and receive a generous income stream along the way, take a close look at these 2 ASX shares.
I believe that both shares are trading at reasonable valuations and offer very attractive dividend yields of over 5%.
Aventus Group (ASX: AVN)
Aventus is the largest fully-integrated owner, manager and developer of large format retail centres in Australia. It currently pays an attractive trailing yield of 5.8%
The group currently owns 20 centres which are occupied by some of the largest and most popular retailers in the country including Bunnings, The Good Guys, Officeworks, and Domayne.
The growing popularity of large format retail centres with consumers has led to strong market demand for Aventus' retail tenancies. This is translating to a very high occupancy rate.
Aventus appears to be positioned to continue this growth due to the increasing popularity of its retail parks with both consumers and retailers, driven by Australia's rapidly expanding cities, especially Sydney and Melbourne.
In the group's results for the half-year ended 31 December 2019, announced just over a week ago, the retail property fund manager announced like-for-like Net Operating Income (NOI) growth of 3.1%. In addition, high occupancy of 98.6% was achieved during the half-year.
During 1H FY20, Aventus spent $15 million across five projects. The development spend for FY20 is forecast to be more than $38 million, with the major component of this spend to occur at Caringbah in Sydney. According to the company, this project has now commenced.
Aventus' strategy in the near-term remains focused on actively diversifying its tenant base, investing in the expansion and development of the portfolio, and undertaking disciplined capital management. I believe this places the company in a strong position for growth over the next few years.
Scentre Group (ASX: SCG)
Scentre is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that develops and manages a portfolio of retail properties throughout Australia and New Zealand. Its portfolio includes Westfield shopping centres.
The group's tenancies are in high demand from many of the largest retail chains in Australia and New Zealand. This demand has led to a very high occupancy rate.
In Scentre's most recent financials for the first half of FY19, funds from operations (FFO) came in at $676.2 million or 12.75 cents per share, a rise of 3% from the prior corresponding period (pcp). Meanwhile, income came in at $994.6 million, up 5% from $947.4 million in the pcp.
REITs such as Scentre offer more market diversification than traditional property shares and spreads market risk to a much wider portfolio of property assets.
Scentre appears to be positioned to grow strongly over the next few years. It currently pays a very high trailing yield of 5.9% and is trading on an attractive price-to-earnings ratio of 15.9.
