This Less-Known Singapore Property Play Pays 51%
New breed of global REITs leverages tiny country’s growing appeal for hosting offshore data centers.
After finance, shipping and refining, Singapore is ready to be a hub for data centers.
Photographer: Rustam Azmi/Getty Images
Singapore is a major Asian refining hub, though it doesn’t have a drop of crude petroleum. Now, the tiny country is punching above its weight in data. The upshot for investors: An asset class that pays 51% in a world where earning even zero is increasingly a luxury.
There’s a limit to how many bits and bytes even a busy financial center of 5.6 million people can produce. Yet, measured by power supply, Singapore is now the world’s largest repository for storing and processing data. Facebook Inc. alone is setting up an 11-story facility, its first such custom-built center in Asia. Data-center real-estate investment trusts, or landlords who take money from public shareholders to own and manage server farms for rent-paying tech clients, are now a globally popular investment.