Reference Guide on REITs and Infrastructure Trust Regulations and Taxation across APAC

REITs and Infrastructure Trusts have been gaining traction across Asia-Pacific. Many countries have begun to test waters by releasing their pioneer REITs. Philippines has launched their pioneer REIT in 2020, alongside UAE that released their first Green REIT, whilst China’s highly anticipated REIT pilot program finally came to fruition in June 2021, with the launch of the retail tranches of its first nine REITs all oversubscribed on its first day. China REITs are currently only backed by infrastructure assets packaged in a mutual fund structure, deliberately picked by authorities to spearhead the country’s recovery from the pandemic.

India made its debut for REITs with Blackstone and Embassy-sponsored Embassy Office Parks REIT getting listed on April 1, 2019 as India’s first Real Estate Investment Trust.

Two other REITs, the Raheja Group-backed Mindspace Business Parks REIT and more recently, Brookfield India REIT, have also debuted on the Indian stock exchanges. Together, these three REITs total approximately USD 7.5 billion of market capitalization and cover 86.0 million square feet of Grade-A commercial office space in India. India’s infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) market is growing leaps and bounds and stands at over USD 10billion and is expected to expand to over US$100 billion in the next five years, according to CRISIL Ratings.

The adoption of REITs will continue to accelerate with momentum in 2022 likely to be sustained by the region’s emerging markets. Thailand has already four in waiting. Philippines unveiled its first REIT at the height of the pandemic last year.

This reference guide covers REITs and Infrastructure Trust regulations and taxation in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, and Singapore.