J-REIT Volatility and Japan Property

As COVID-19 continues to spread across the world without an end in sight, global capital markets have unsurprisingly been hit hard and the J-REIT market has suffered more than most. Yet, under the current circumstances, it is easy to forget that J-REITs had performed solidly up until 20 February – when the TSE REIT Index peaked at over 2,250 (Dividend: 3.5%, NAV: 1.28). Things swiftly changed thereafter, however, as the index lost around half of its value over the course of the following month, plummeting to 1,145 (Dividend: 6.8%, NAV: 0.69) by 19 March. A modest recovery to 1,640 (Dividend: 4.8%, NAV: 0.97) by 25 March notwithstanding, the index has hovered around the 1,500 mark (Dividend: 5.2%, NAV: 0.90) since the start of April – around 30% below its preCOVID-19 high.