REITS to come to Hong Kong

Following the success of REITs in other markets such as the US, Australia and Singapore, the Hong Kong regulator has released a draft code for public consultation. The consultation will last one month with a finalised code being released in the second quarter. The first approved REITs should appear some time in the third or fourth quarter according to the SFC. The code will be independent and not be merged with the unit trust code as was done recently with the code for hedge funds.