Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (Ascendas REIT) has marked its entry into the US logistics real estate market with an agreement to buy 11 last-mile properties in Kansas City for S$207.8m (€133m).

William Tay, executive director and CEO of the manager, said the firm was confident of the growth potential of this portfolio, “given Kansas City’s geographically-central location within the US and its well-developed transportation infrastructure”.

Tay said: “We believe there will be continuing high demand for this portfolio, which comprises 200,000sqm of last-mile logistics space offering convenient access to the domestic market, midwestern population centres and other commercial hubs across the country.”

The overall vacancy rate of the sector in Kansas has remained stable at 4.5%-5.9% since 2015. As at third quarter this year, the vacancy rate was 4.8%, according to Ascendas.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Ascendas REIT will own 221 properties valued at approximately S$16.2bn, of which logistics will increase to S$3.5bn or 22% of its total portfolio.

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