[Page intentionally left blank] An Analysis of Hong Kong REITs: Current and Future Opportunities for Investors By

Real estate investment trust (REIT) is a valuable investment alternative for investors in many markets. Being home to a handful of world-class property developers, Hong Kong, the Asia financial hub, seemed to have met all the criteria to grow a REIT market rapidly. Yet, since the enactment of the Hong Kong REIT Code in 2003, the H-REIT (acronym for Hong Kong REIT) market saw only eight H-REITs being launched, lagging the growth of other REIT markets in the region. This thesis paper seeks to uncover the present investment values in H-REITs and determine what likely would shape the future of the market hence the potential value it could bring to investors, through examining the local real estate capital markets, the regulations, and the supply and demand dynamics, and conducting comparative analysis with stocks of local property companies. The study finds that the H-REITs are significantly less risky than local property stocks and offer dividend yields that in most cases are greater than the earning yields of those stocks. H-REIT offers real estate exposure, yet provides diversification effect to a portfolio of local property stocks given its lo