ASX Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have certainly had a rough couple of years on the whole. The global pandemic has been especially rough for this sector. Think about it. With work from home in force, offices closed and lockdowns coming and going, the profitability of office space, retail shopfronts and residential housing would have certainly taken a hit.
But how has this translated into the performance of ASX REITs? Let's take a look.
So to kick things off, let's check out the S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT Index (ASX: XPJ). It's currently sitting at 1,596.9 points at the time of writing. That's a good 66% or so above where it bottomed in the 2020 market crash, but still a little over 7% off of its pre-COVID high watermark that we saw in February 2020. Like many ASX shares, REITs have also taken a tumble more recently. Between new year's eve 2021 and today, the index is down around 9.1%.
But let's now dive deeper into some individual ASX REITs.
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An ASX REIT share temperature check for 2022 thus far
To start with, let's check out the ASX's largest REIT, Goodman Group (ASX: GMG). Goodman is a commercial and industrial REIT known for its warehouses and logistics facilities. Goodman units have managed to shake off the pandemic rather well. It was only back at the end of 2021 that this company was hitting all-time highs. Even at today's pricing, Goodman is a healthy 43% or so above its pre-COVID highs. In saying that, it remains down 12.3% year to date in 2022.
But other ASX REITs haven't been so lucky. Shopping centre operator Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) is one that has struggled. It's at $2.95 today so far, which is close to a quarter lower than its pre-COVID highs of around $4. Even so, it's still up a reasonable, if not too dazzling, 5.7% over the past 12 months. But in 2022 so far, Scentre units have lost just over 9.2%.
National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR), which is a REIT that operates self-storage centres across the country, has done a little better. It's down 8.75% over 2022 so far at the time of writing. However, it's up a far healthier 30.6% over the past 12 months, and remains above its pre-COVID highs.
To wrap things up, let's take a look at another REIT, Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP). Stockland is a diversified REIT covering shopping centres, housing, retirement villages and industrial property. But unfortunately, this company hasn't been a great performer of late. It's down 9.1% in 2022 so far, as well as by 16.3% over the past year. It's also a good 25% or so away from its own pre-COVID highs.
So all in all, it seems 2022 has been quite a harsh master to ASX REIT shares thus far. But then again, it's only February, so who knows what the rest of 2022 will bring for the ASX REIT sector.
