Portfolio Update: Buying A Dividend Stock I Once Knew, Creating a 6% Dividend Portfolio

This week saw further deployment of my capital earned from Yangzijiang Financial. I bought Keppel Pacific Oak REIT at 21 US cents. It was bought for its future dividend where from 2026, KORE will resume its distributions.

Portfolio Composition

40% of my portfolio are now in US REITs, listed in SGX. While they are not strong beneficary of the $5 billion MAS funds, my thoughts is investing in them for their potential high yield earned far exceeds the need. Owning this dividend stocks are much better than owning Singapore stocks or buying a property on leverage.

As a result for 2026, the inflow of dividend should be approximately $60,000, giving a 6% dividend. Current total Portfolio Value is close to a million sing dollar.

Returns wise, since my challenge to property agents, United Hampshire US REIT has provided 2.5 US cents capital gain + 4.1 US cents in dividend. That is a 14.5% returns in less than a year. It is likely the REIT will be giving 4.2 US cents in dividend in 2026, which makes it a 9% dividend yield on current price.

Dividend Received Year to Date

USD: $3,682

SGD: $13,414.50

HKD:$7,100

Effects of US Federal Reserve Starting To Lower Rates, Share Price Growth for SGX Listed US Based REITs

A few hours ago, Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday gave a tepid indication of possible interest rate cuts ahead. The US Fed interest rate cuts will lower the SOFR rate that US borrowers on.

In Singapore, it will not translate to interest savings for most SGX listed REITs. This is because most of the REITs are on debts tied to the SORA (Singapore) and Japan's. As a matter of fact, SORA (Singapore's rate) has fallen faster than USA's. While USA's SOFR has not decreased by a single decimal throughout the year, Singapore's SORA has fallen by 1.5%.

Only Beneficary

The main beneficary are the US listed REITs because almost all their loans are tied to US SOFR instead of SORA unlike the rest. In time to come, we can expect the decline in US Federal Reserve Rate to benefit them.

KORE is the most sensitive to movement of SOFR because it has 24% of loans pegged to SOFR and the tightest margin spread due to a perceived stronger property portfolio. The magnitude of the fall in SOFR will result in a good percentage in extra cashflow for unitholder. Next in line is PRIME where it has about 34% tied to SOFR floating rates.

Good Time to Own SGX Listed US Based REITs

Declining SOFR means lower interest expense and in turn higher distributable income for unitholders. These are facts and not analysis. So it is definite such unitholders are going to benefit to a greater magnitude than those owning Singapore SG REITs.

To add to that, the USD dollar is at its lowest against the Sing Dollar, it is a good time for Singapore investors to mass swap the Sing Dollar to buy these assets when we have a strong Sing Dollar before it starts to depreciate again.

Higher Dividends for US Office REITs (except Manulife US)

This post will cover KORE and PRIME REIT. In recent times, these 02 REITs have posted results which shows their property portfolio are turning around. KORE has shown a slight decline in occupancy from 90.0% to 88.2%. And PRIME has maintained its occupancy at 80%. 

With this, it will point to a stabilisation of their property valuation which means an unlikely scenario of breaching leverage ratio above 50%. So what remains is when will their distribution resume.

KORE Resumption will Start From FY2026 Result

As per the title; this has been confirmed by the REIT manager, what remains is the proportion of payout ratio. From the wordings, it will definitely not be 80%/90% of the distributable income because this is the end state where the REIT wants to be at.

For PRIME, while the manager has not indicated increasing its payout ratio; management call has alluded that PRIME too is looking to increase its payout ratio from its current 10%. So the question is what is the ratio.

The CAPEX Problem 

Unlike the Singapore market, in USA commercial most of the tenancy improvement's cost are borne by the landlord. Therefore for every new lease/renewal, there is quite a hefty cash outlay that has to be upfront borne by the landlord.

For last year and this year, both REITs are forecasting a high CAPEX requirement of 45-50million to secure tenants to long term contract.

Operating Cashflow from Rental Growing

And to add to that, most of the new leases comes with rent free period of 3-12 months. This is why at current moment, both KORE and PRIME have reported low operating cash inflows because they are only earning about 70% of rental cash inflow from their properties. 

For KORE, due to the execution of 24% of its leases in the past 18 months, it has about 11% more of its portfolio coming online for rental income, while PRIME based on presentation has 10.5% of its portfolio starting to bring rental cash in. These are important data points. For KORE, this means after most of its new leases start to bring in rent, it will have operating cash inflow of about $82 million, while PRIME is at $76 million.

Counting it Backwards (CAPEX will taper off from 2026)

Both REITs will be incurring upfront CAPEX during last year and this year due to the need to secure tenants and backfilling. However, from FY2026, the CAPEX needs should be lower. In my projection, KORE would incur about 20 million in maintenance CAPEX while PRIME should be about 15 million. This is due to the relative ages of their properties. 

Expansion CAPEX should be lower because both REITs have higher occupancy rates. However, due to PRIME needing to backfill a larger vacant space and in turn needing to pay tenancy improvement, it is likely PRIME will spend USD$5 million more than KORE.

Hence in total, I assume both REITs have CAPEX needs of US$35 million for FY26.

Interest Expense

In KORE's latest annual report, it was able to refinance its new loans at slightly better margin rates. However, this was a small loan refinanced of US$50 million. That said, an advantage of KORE is its ability to secure better loan rates than KORE. 

In its annual report, KORE has been paying at rates of SOFR + (1.43%-1.66%), while PRIME's is SOFR + above 2%. Both REITs have approximately the same amount of debt.

KORE has been able to Refinance Debt at Better Rates

As a result on a full year, KORE's interest expense is US$26 million, while PRIME's stands at US$36 million.

Dividend Resumption

Judging from the cashflow, KORE will have about US$20-30 million in free cashflow once most of its new leases come online + CAPEX tapers off. Hence I forecast investors can expect to see about 2 US cents (US$20 million) dividend from KORE.

For PRIME, free cashflow should remain zero or negative due to its continous higher interest expense and still high CAPEX cash outflow to backfill leases. 

KORE is in a stronger position. This is because it has secured a narrower interest margin + SOFR as compared to PRIME. And the other positive for KORE is that it is in stronger sub office markets as compared to PRIME. For investors of these 2 Office REITs, higher dividends can be seen soon. But the question is what % will each of these REITs give?

Mid August Portfolio Update: Complete Divestment of Yangzijiang Financial

I have compeleted divesting Yangzijiang Financial shares. With the realised gains and initial capital, I have bought other companies such as Starhub and further increase in my position of Lendlease REIT. 

Lendlease REIT Higher DPU for Next 3 Years

The sale of its JEM office is DPU accretive because the interest saved outweighs the office revenue the REIT would have earned even factoring the 13% rental escalation. Second, with a lower leverage ratio, the REIT can start to use its bank borrowings of 3% interest to redeem perpetuals as and when they reach maturity. I expect 4.0 cents total dividend for 2026 & 2027 and 4.3 SG cents in 2028. Debt ratio will be about 44% once all perpetuals are exchanged to bank borrowings. Buying Lendlease REIT at up to 60 SG cents is attractive given the future dividend of 4.3 cents (7% yield)

Another divestment is Yanlord, keeping only a small amount of shares and a Partial sale of Asian Pay TV .

Dividend Received

LINK REIT paid dividend. So Year to Date

USD: $3,682

SGD: $13,414.50

HKD:$7,100

Asian Pay TV, Olam, Nanofilm, Far East H trust and Lendlease will only pay its dividend in Sept, so there will be another round of dividend inflow. 

Portfolio Composition

Alibaba remains the largest component but has dwindled due to the purchase of other companies. As of now, United Hampshire US REIT is the second largest. However, the third and fourth largest are PRIME and Lendlease with expectation of increasing dividends in the next few years. 

Most of my holdings are in REITs due to the thoughts that interest rate/expenses are coming down. A lower interest expense means a higher net profit and in turn dividend. Dividend Yield compression may happen too which leads to higher share prices for REITs.

This will enable my porfolio to earn a larger amount of dividend over the next few years.

United Hampshire US REIT- Strong 1H Result, Higher Dividend and 8% Dividend Yielder

United Hampshire US REIT (UHREIT) has released its first half results. The top draw is the REIT has maintained dividend in the 8% yield range.

Here's a summary of the results:

(i) Revenue down due to divestments

(ii) Distributable income increased by 4% to 2.09 US cents for the last 6 months

(iii) DPU Yield of 8-9% at current share price

Business segments of Grocery and Self Storage

On virture it is a REIT focusing on tenants providing basic essential services, its revenue does not fluctuate much. Occupancy rate has been strong staying at above 95%. The REIT leases have in built annual escalation which allows an increase of NPI per property.

Interest Expense

This is the main item which will determine the directions of its dividend. As of 1H2025, debt weighted interest rate is 5.13%, a decrease from 6 months ago. UHREIT debt profile is all pegged to USA SOFR and its swaps expire in end 2026, I expect 4 rate cuts from now to then, which will put interest at 3%. Hence, I expect interest expense to start lowering from 2026. This leads to.......

DPU Growth

With annual rental escalations and forecasted lower interest expenses from 2026, UHREIT DPU should grow from its current annualised 4.1 cents. This puts it at a high 8 to 9% dividend yielder. The recent acquistion of Dover Marketplace should result in a higher DPU as well. 

At 47.5 US cents, this is a steal and a stock to include to boost your dividend returns. It is a definite buy and I have a target price of 70 US cents.

Lendlease REIT Full Year 2025 Results: 3.6 SG cents Dividend, Increase in DPU expected

 Lendlease Global Commercial REIT (LREIT) has released its full year results. Overall, it is an expected results with:

• 3.6 SG cent dividend
• Sale of its JEM Office Space
• Slower uptake of Milan Office Tower 3, improvements need to be done to raise it to 80% from current 31%

Expect Higher DPU Next Year

LREIT has divested JEM office space at 3.5% cap rate. This is good because if LREIT uses the equity portion of the sale to redeem its 4.25 and 4.75% interest perpetuals, there is a few million dollar increase in distributable income. Further, LREIT cost of debt is now declining, factoring all these I expect next year DPU to be 3.7 SG cents with special dividend of 0.5 SG cent post sale of Singapore office complex.

At 57 SG cents, this translate to a 6.5% dividend yield, which is good. I expect further yield compression to occur until the 5% mark because the risk free SORA rate is declining. Target price is 74 SG cents.

Is it possible for LREIT to reach a target price of 74 SG cents?

The answer is a restounding yes. I feel there are 02 ways- (i) yield compression with the falling Singapore interest rates or (ii) a sale of the Milan office building at current valuation.

If the sale of Milan office goes through, LREIT will become a 100% Singapore mall Trust. And on SGX, we have a 100% SG retail reit which is priced at 1 times P/B with dividend of 5%; it is fraser centrepoint trust.

So it is easy for LREIT to reach 74 SG cents. 

 

Caveat

The sale of LREIT's office assets is indeed a good way forward, however I will like to caveat to LREIT manager that it should not be buying any more properties from the sponsor. And if it does, it should only be Retail singapore properties like PLQ mall or Parkway at a capitlization rate of 4.75% or more because such a situation means the 4.75% interest perpetuals will not be redeemed. A too low cap rate will be DPU negative to unitholders.

And if it is not a retail property, the chances of fulfilling a one times price book will not be achieved.

August Portfolio Update: Reinvesting Sale Proceeds

Saw 02 of my holdings reach its fair value and hence I have encashed partial stakes. Yangzijiang Financial was a big winner with a $100,000 in profits

Following up from my last month's view, I have bought NTT DC, United Hampshire US Trust, Fraser Logistics Commercial Trust, Far East Hospitality Trust and Asian Pay TV.

Dividend Prospects

As mentioned, NTT DC REIT has a strong portfolio with rental escalations and of course there is a risk that it will revise down its payout ratio from 100% to 90%. Therefore, it is safe to assume, dividends will stay at 7 to 7.5 US cents per year. However, it is still worth at current prices.

For United Hampshire and Asian Pay TV, it needs no introduction for they are dividend titans in their own rights (>8% dividend yield)

Fraser Logistics Commercial Trust (FLCT) is currently plagued with poor occupancy rates especially in Singapore. Singapore's property outlook is in fact weak with low occupancy rates contrary to what many Singapore property agents talk about. The main reason is due to the mismatch in asking rent and what tenants want to pay, resulting in a low occupancy rate. However, I am banking on the REIT to lower their asking rates to fill up their occupancy. ItThe REIT would maintain at least a 6 cents annual dividend. (>6% dividend yield)

Far East Hospitality Trust owns a few 4 and 5 star hotels in Singapore, with a rather healthy cashflow and I am branching out to gain exposure to Singapore's tourism industry (~6% dividend yield)

With the purchase of these shares, it is definite I will be getting cash inflow equivalent to SGD$50,000 per year. If PRIME US REIT reinstates a 90% payout next year, dividend may rise to SGD$60,000 range.

To me the current portfolio has a right mix of dividend and capital gains (mainly Alibaba is the provider for this aspect), I would be happy earning a 6% dividend portfolio with part of it banking on capital gains from the Hong Kong side. Many Singapore REITs are now priced at high yields that outbeat condo purchases in both capital and rental appreciation. 

United Hampshire US REIT

A shout out to this REIT. Since my post in Dec 2024, it has produced 4 cents in returns (2.05 cents dividend and 1.5 cents in share price gain). This netts a remarkable 8% returns in close to a year from the cost base of 45.5 US cents. The recent purchase of a property should raise its DPU by 1%. Definitely not better than doing unit buybacks but as passive investors we cant influence much; UOB wants to make more money so they will increase AUM instead of doing the better corporate action.