In October, both global and Asia Pacific real estate stocks rebounded from a tough September as the property markets were once again bolstered by a move to safe (and yield-orientated) assets amidst global growth worries and ever-lower interest rates. For the month, the SNL Financial Asia-Pacific Real Estate Index (which includes Australia) increased by 3.8 percent, which slightly lagged 4.6 percent returns for the Global Real Estate Index, with regional returns denominated back to US dollars and country returns in local currency. Due to the shift toward yield-focused assets, REITs generally outperformed developers during the month, with particular strength among US REITs driving global REIT returns up 6.5 percent. For the year through October, the Asia Pacific region has posted modestly positive returns of 6.8 percent, though that trails global real estate returns of 11.9 percent.

During the month, Hong Kong was the strongest country, posting returns