(Yicai) July 2 -- China has already issued more publicly offered real estate investment trusts this year than in the whole last year.

China issued nine public REITs between Jan. 1 and today, raising nearly CNY23.7 billion (USD3.3 billion), with both the number of REITs and their proceeds being higher than the total of 2023, according to data from Wind Information.

Twelve public REITs were approved in China this year as of June 28, with 10 others still in the revision process.

The public REIT market still has growth potential in the long run because its value remains low despite an initial rebound, and its underlying assets are increasing both in terms of variety and quantity, industry insiders told Yicai.

Twenty of China’s 36 publicly trading REITs have dropped below their offering prices. REITs investing in industrial, warehousing, and logistics parks perform the worst as many leases were terminated ahead of schedule.

However, public REITs are still distributing dividends stably. Thirty-one of the 36 publicly trading REITs had paid dividends as of yesterday, Wind data showed.

The four REITs investing in traffic infrastructures had paid the most dividends, followed by the two investing in energy infrastructure. These six REITs had all paid no less than CNY800 million (USD110 million) in dividends each, with the highest having cashed out nearly CNY1.6 billion (USD213.2 million).

Long-term and high dividends are the most important features of public REITs with high-quality underlying assets, according to China Asset Management. Some REITs will achieve stable profits and cash flows, so they will likely continue to pay high dividends.

Editor: Futura Costaglione