Manulife US REIT (MUST) reported on 2 November that its portfolio occupancy has slipped further to 88.1%.

The fall was reported as part of the REIT’s operational updates for 3Q 2022.

However, while its overall portfolio occupancy was lower, the occupancy for its tech park asset Diablo has improved to 91.1%, the highest it has been since acquisition in December 2021.

Its portfolio weighted average lease expiry (WALE) was at 4.9 years.

Accordingly, the REIT has also achieved a positive rental reversion of 4.3% for leases secured or renewed during the quarter.

Leases that represent over 61,000 square feet of office spaces were executed over the period, said MUST in its presentation.

This brings the REIT’s rental reversion for the year-to-date to 1.7%.

But the REIT’s gearing has risen slightly to 42.5% with an increased cost of borrowing at 3.34%.

MUST has guided that every 1% increase in the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate will impact its distribution per unit by 0.105 US cents.

MUST was last done on the Singapore Exchange at USD0.355, which presently implies a distribution yield of 14.7% according to data on the Singapore REITs table.