May saw a continuation of the recovery in the property market as the number of new cases of CV-19 in Australia has slowed and the government announced plans to reopen Australia by July. The Australian share market received a boost after the government announced in late May that due to reporting errors, the expected cost of the JobKeeper wage subsidy program is expected to cost $60 billion less than previously estimated.
The Atlas High Income Property Fund gained +4.4% over the month. Pleasingly several holdings in the portfolio not only gave trading updates showing that their businesses have been less impacted by CV-19 than initially feared, but also confirmed their upcoming June distributions.
While the property sector faces challenges in 2020 due to a weakening economy, not all assets face the same challenges as discretionary retail; with office, industrial and infrastructure tenants mostly keeping up with their rental obligations. June is likely to be a critical month for listed property, as the opening up of the economy will give landlords greater certainty as to their earnings profile over the next year.
Go to Monthly Newsletters for a more detailed discussion of the listed property market and the fund’s strategy going into 2020.
