ASX REITS are known for providing share price stability or growth, along with healthy distributions, which is the term funds use instead of dividends.

Newly-released data from the ASX quantifies the returns of the ASX REITs over the past three financial years.

Let's take a look at the figures to identify the best performer.

The top 10 ASX REITS over FY21-FY23

For the purposes of this article, we're going to focus on the 42 ASX REITs that invest in Australian property. We're excluding the index-based REITs and those invested in global property.

According to the data, here are the top 10 ASX REITS:

HMC Capital Ltd (ASX: HMC) returned an average of 30.41% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged a yield of 2.37%.

Blackwall Ltd (ASX: BWF) returned an average of 27.88% per annum, including reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 9.07%.

The Aspen Group Limited (ASX: APZ) returned an average of 26.16% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 4.43%.

The Arena REIT (ASX: ARF) returned an average of 24.99% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 4.47%.

Garda Diversified Property Fund (ASX: GDF) returned an average of 15.17% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 5.54%.

Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX) returned an average of 14.2% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 6.21%.

The Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT (ASX: CQE) returned an average of 13.73% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 5.85%.

Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP) returned an average of 13.64% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 6.5%.

The National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR) returned an average of 13.35% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 4.68%.

Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) returned an average of 12.22% per annum. This includes reinvested dividends which have historically averaged 1.49%.

More about HMC Capital

So, HMC Capital is the top returning REIT over the past three years.

HMC is a property developer, owner, and manager. The company is involved in investment funds management and corporate properties — primarily retail and services centres.

Here is a chart documenting the recent performance of this ASX REIT.

Interested in the age-old debate? Check out our article on property or shares making the best investment.

The post Which ASX REITs delivered the best returns over the past 3 years? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.