Financing costs will come under scrutiny as S-Reits report results amid Trump’s inauguration, interest rate decisions

RESULT announcements for Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts (S-Reits) for the quarter ended December 2024 – expected over the next few weeks – could not come at a more interesting time.

The latest reporting season will be exciting to watch, coming in the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president on Jan 20 in the US. Also on the calendar is the announcement of the US Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting from Jan 28 to 29.

Higher-for-longer interest rates over the past two years have wreaked havoc on Reit distributions. There was some reprieve last year, as the US Fed started to cut interest rates.

But Trump’s upcoming policies are widely believed to be inflationary, and could lead to a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts.

Still, industry watchers believe most of the S-Reits are already facing near “peak” interest rates, and expect financing costs to decline from this year.