The S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT Index (Index:^AXPJ) (ASX: XPJ) has again taken a week-to-week tumble, with the XPJ index down another 0.5%, on top of last week's 1.5% drop. While the A-REIT (Australian Real Estate Investment Trust) index is still up substantially in 2019 so far, a resurgent ASX and big share price rises from growth stocks over the past month may be responsible for stealing some of the wind from REIT sails.
Let's take a look at how the big A-REITS have performed over the past week.
Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)
With an 18% weighting in the XPJ index, it's safe to say that if Goodman sneezes, the index catches a cold. Goodman shares are down 0.32% for the week, with no major news coming out of this REIT. Goodman now has a market capitalisation of $27.52 billion, a (rather expensive) price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 25 and is yielding a 1.68% dividend on current prices.
Scentre Group (ASX: SCG)
Scentre shares are slightly up for the week, with the SCG share price notching a 1% gain week-to-date. SCG shares are still recovering after last week's 5% drop, however, and remain reluctant to venture north of the $4 mark that shares were going for at the start of the financial year. Scentre, with its market cap of $20.68 billion, has a 17% weighting in the A-REIT index, a (cheap-looking) P/E ratio of 9.05 and is currently paying a dividend yield of 5.59%.
Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP)
Stockland shares are dead flat week-to-date, despite dipping down to the $4.55 level on Monday. Stockland is now trading very close to the 52-week high of $4.68 it reached about two weeks ago and has risen a healthy 33.6% YTD. With an index weighting of 9% and a market cap of $10.99 billion, Stockland is also still looking on the cheap side with its P/E ratio of 10.93 and a yield of 5.99%
Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX)
Vicinity has perhaps been the biggest mover over the past week, with VCX shares down 2.67% over the past week. This $9.62 billion REIT released an ASX announcement on Thursday flagging a continuation of its share buy-back program until July 2020 for the purposes of "ongoing capital management". Investors didn't seem to like this announcement, as it was a major catalyst for this weeks' share price movements. VCX shares are currently yielding a 6.33% dividend on a P/E ratio of 8.16.
Foolish Takeaway
REITs are seemingly taking a breather after the big price rises we have seen so far this year. As interest rates appear to be going down and not up (at least for a while), now might present a good opportunity to get a foothold in REITs if you haven't already. Low rates make income-producing shares like REITs intrinsically more attractive, so I expect further upside in these shares going forward.
