What does a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Investment Analyst actually do?
In Singapore these days, in most equity investment circles (arguably), you’ll be hard pressed not to hear the term “REITs” mentioned, at least in passing. With a myriad of different types of REITs available for public trading on the SGX – think: Retail, Office, Industrial, Hospitality etc…-, there naturally has been quite a lot of interest generated viz the ability to own a ‘small piece of your favourite property’, via unit holdings in REIT stocks.
While visibility of the REIT itself is generally a given, not many people actually know what the investment team actually does, over and above….“investments I guess”.
Over here at Joy Management Services Pte Ltd, we are fortunate to have an ex-REIT Investment Analyst on board, so here’s a quick and dirty summary of what the job entails in general, although it may differ from REIT to REIT:
- Investment research –
- Analysing property-related trends (think: supply and demand; footfall; keeping up to date on tenancies etc)
- Analysing macroeconomic data (GDP growth trends, key policy thrusts etc)
- Financial modelling –
- Discounted cash flow (DCF), relative valuation, income capitalisation approaches
- Property Feasibility Analyses –
- Analysing information memorandums from agents, developers and making conjectures (backed by research and analysis) to the investment committee
- Financial & legal due diligence –
- Entering data rooms to verify the accuracy of figures provided (or obtain additional information needed for the model)
- Vetting legal contracts / documents (occasionally)
- Meeting with agents / bankers / investors
- Board meeting preparation –
- Presentation decks / documents detailing financial performance, investment pipelines, other REIT-specific updates
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