This REIT Paid 9.1% Dividend and Still Went Higher, Beating Singapore Condo Prices and Rental

One year ago, in December 2024, United Hampshire US REIT was trading at 45.5 US cents. At the time, Business Times wrote an article where the reporter too felt owning instruments such as Singapore listed REITs was better than owning a private property for investment " Why lock up millions in a Singapore condo for low single-digit returns when a boring, necessity-based REIT was paying you real cash? 

For simplicity, I offered a comparison against a REIT which I had a strong conviction in.

United Hampshire US REIT rents retail spaces across United States mainly to Grocery supermarkets, banks as their branch store front, F&B outlets. In a nutshell, the REIT is positioned as a stripe mall, the heartland mall style similar to Singapore's Fraser Centrepoint Trust.

A year later, the numbers have largely answered this question.

Capital Gains

United Hampshire US REIT closed at 50.5 US cents. That is an 11% capital gain. Now contrast this with Singapore private residential property, using official Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) data. 

According to URA’s Private Residential Property Price Index, non-residential private home prices rose 5.7% on a Q3-to-Q3 comparison basis （Q3 2024 to Q3 2025). This URA index measures pure price movement only, excluding agent commission of 2% and property income taxes. 

Factoring a 50% leverage for a private property purchase and an interest expense cost of 2.6%, the private home leveraged return is 10.1% capital gain.

United Hampshire US REIT Wins

Dividend vs Rental Returns

United Hampshire US REIT paid 4.14 US cents, this gives 9.1% yield. Tax free, incurring no IRAS taxes

Private Home only gave 4% yield, and you have an incoming IRAS tax bill 

United Hampshire US REIT Wins

Capital Structure of the REIT

The REIT is in the stable US basic consumer segment and have signed long lease periods with its supermarket tenants

Its leverage ratio is 40%, much lower than many Singapore REITs and has no refinancing risk until 2029.

A year on, the lesson is clear: high-yielding, well-managed REITs can outperform traditional residential property on a total-return basis, especially when measured against official URA data. While property remains a stable, long-term store of wealth, this comparison reinforces a simple truth: in today’s environment, income-producing REITs can be the smarter to grow your wealth. Hopefully this lesson will ring true end 2029