Asia Pacific listed real estate companies were up slightly in March, posting returns of 0.3 percent, according to SNL Financial, with regional returns denominated back to US dollars and country returns in local currency.

While overall regional performance has been lacklustre for the past two months (–0.4 percent in February/March combined), the aggregate masks substantial performance differentials between countries, and between REITs and developers, as a mix of positive and negative government policy measures have created country- and structure-specific performance volatility. From January through March, Asia Pacific listed real estate companies (up 4.9 percent) have lagged global real estate (up 5.8 percent).

Among the major countries, Japan remains on a torrid pace, up 19 percent in March and 35.2 percent for the first three months of 2013, as the market is soaring on massive government stimulus measu