Everyone says Australian REIT withholding is 15% — why is your in-hand drag smaller?

Because the 15% applies only to the fund-payment part of each distribution. An Australian stapled distribution is a mixed cheque: fund payments (15%), interest (10%) and tax-deferred amounts (0% — but they erode your cost base). Stockland's latest official split was 48.4% fund payment and 51.6% interest, a blended drag of only about 12.4%; over a third of GPT's cheque is tax-deferred. In the other direction, NCMI (non-concession income, such as some residential income) is withheld at 30% even for EOI residents — so the right question is never 'what is the rate' but 'what is this cheque made of'.

Goodman is Australia's biggest property stock — why is it out of the basket?

It is out of the yield, not out of the sector: it pays out only about 23% of operating earnings, its DPS has not moved in three years (30.0c), and its price sits at a 136% premium to NTA — the market is buying its development pipeline and data-centre story, not rent. Equal-weighting it into an income basket dilutes 5.29% of income into 4.45% while letting a reader believe the 1.08% is also 'property yield'. This site's treatment is 4+1: income as income, growth as growth, each priced separately.

Is GPT's tax-deferred third (35%) actually income?

The cash is real, the tax is deferred, and the income character is mixed: it is mostly distribution capacity created by non-cash deductions such as depreciation — economically close to 'part of your principal returned early as a distribution', which is why the cost base must be reduced each year (AMMA records), and amounts received after the base is exhausted become capital gains. This site's treatment matches its Korea REIT page: the yield is printed (the cash does arrive), with the tax-deferred share printed beside it, never allowed to impersonate sustainable taxable income.

Opportunity rank #95 (cash-flow board) · Australia

Australia A-REIT core basket: 5.29% gross, about 4.5–4.8% in hand — withholding hits only part of each cheque, and Goodman stays out of the headline

Our take: Do, with conditions

4.63–6.14% Australia A-REIT core basket distribution yields (ASX filing basis) · Verified range · Data as of: 2026-11-06

Composite-board score: 6.3 · Where it is strong: Net cash flow, Stability & rule of law · methodology

Data updated: 2026-11-08

This site publishes only a four-name core for Australia's A-REITs (latest full-year distributions over 6 Nov 2026 prices, all ASX filing basis): Dexus at 37.0c = 6.14% (82.1% of AFFO paid out; a 32% discount to NTA of A$8.92); Stockland at 25.2c = 5.48% (69% of after-tax FFO; at a 4.8% premium to NTA, the basket's only premium income name); Scentre at 17.72c = 4.91% (77.7% of FFO; CY2026 guidance raises the distribution to 18.473c); GPT at 24.0c = 4.63% (70.6% of FFO, about 93% of AFFO). Equal-weight gross: 5.29%. The withholding mechanics are this entry's core lesson: the MIT rate of 15% (a final tax for residents of exchange-of-information countries — Singapore is on the ATO's list) applies only to the fund-payment part of each distribution — interest components are withheld at 10%, and tax-deferred/non-assessable amounts are not withheld at all. The compositions are on official notices: Stockland's 1H26 cash was 48.4% fund payment and 51.6% interest; 35.26% of GPT's cash distribution was tax-deferred (cost base erodes yearly — keep the AMMA statements), and Dexus's FY25 figure was 19.46%. In-hand is therefore printed two ways: a conservative method (everything treated as a fund payment at 15%) of about 4.50%, and a composition-adjusted indication of about 4.8%. Two warnings ride with the yields: Dexus's 6.14% must carry its FY27 AFFO guidance cut (37.5–39.5c) against a held 37.0c distribution — at the low end the payout ratio is about 99%, making it the basket's likeliest first cutter; and Goodman is excluded from the headline yield — its DPS has been frozen at 30.0c for three years for a 1.08% yield at a 136% premium to NTA, paying out only 23% of operating EPS: it is a developer/fund manager, not a rent REIT, and may appear only in a separate 'growth satellite' box (equal-weighting it would dilute the yield by about 0.85 points while changing the species entirely). One confusion to avoid: the foreign-resident capital-gains withholding on direct property sales rose to 15% in 2025 — that is the direct-property regime, unrelated to MIT distributions; no increase to MIT withholding has been legislated. Verdict: do, on conditions — the most liquid AUD income diversifier available (ADTV of A$20M–112M), not a high-yield headline.

In short: four lines first

What it costs to get in

Listed securities; a practical start is about A$10,000–20,000 (ASX access)

Roughly what it earns

4.63–6.14%（Australia A-REIT core basket distribution yields (ASX filing basis)）

How much work for you

Very hands-off (listed route; keep AMMA statements yearly)

The biggest catch

Dexus's payout safety margin is the basket's thinnest: FY27 AFFO guidance was cut while the distribution is held, implying a payout of about 99% at the low end — one more soft half in office leasing or fund-management fees and it cuts first. Buying its 6.14% means buying this warning.

The numbers that matter

Australia A-REIT core basket distribution yields (ASX filing basis)

4.63–6.14%

Verified range As of: 2026-11-06 Source: ATO: MIT fund-payment withholding arrangements — 15% for residents of exchange-of-information countries, 30% for non-EOI, 10% for clean-building MITs, 30% on NCMI amounts (Singapore is item 49 on the EOI list)

Why we think it makes money

The evidence chain is among this site's most complete: all five names' DPS, FFO/AFFO, NTA, guidance and tax components trace to ASX filings and the ATO — including a withholding composition split from the issuer's own official notice (Stockland's 12-H notice), a rarity on this site.

'Withholding hits only part of the cheque' is Australia's unique in-hand structure: the tax-deferred slice (over a third at GPT) arrives in cash, unwithheld — readers who understand AMIT/AMMA find Australia's in-hand better than the headline rate suggests; readers who don't will meet an unexpected gains bill in the year their cost base runs out.

Goodman's separate box is this site's species-purity discipline on display: one sector index mixes rent REITs with a developer, and averaging them into one yield is Australian material's most common misdirection — this site splits the basket 4+1 instead.

How to actually get in

Listed route: buy the four core names (SCG/SGP/DXS/GPT) through an international broker with ASX access, with GMG accounted separately if bought; no issuer minimum, though above roughly A$10,000–20,000 commissions and FX spreads stop eating the first year's distributions (this site's experience basis). Retail scale does not trigger FIRB (a safe-harbour guideline covers passive holdings in listed trusts).

What it costs, what it earns

Entry amount: Listed securities; a practical start is about A$10,000–20,000 (ASX access)
How much work for you: Very hands-off (listed route; keep AMMA statements yearly)

Costs & taxes, item by item:

Unhedged AUD exposure on distributions and principal: over long periods the currency can move more than a year's distributions — the first cost for a Singapore-based holder.
The AMMA filing duty: tax-deferred amounts erode the cost base yearly, and every AMMA statement must be kept until the year of sale — a paperwork discipline that dents the hands-off score.

Basis: this site uses full-cost net returns only — income minus vacancy, management, maintenance, taxes and insurance, then financing interest, with entry costs in the denominator. See the methodology。

Identity & tax

Status (residency / citizenship)

无（纯组合头寸）

This asset does not count toward the channel No status channel

Threshold: —

买 A-REIT 单位不产生澳洲居留、签证、Medicare 或税务居民利益。零售规模的场内买入不触发 FIRB（被动持有上市信托 ≤10% 且资产以非住宅为主有安全港指引）；买直投实物地产是另一套 FIRB 规则，不在本条目范围。

Source: FIRB 指引（Allens/XBMA 汇编）

Tax (investor level)

MIT 预扣只打分派中的「基金支付」部分：EOI 国家居民 15%（终局税，新加坡在 ATO 名单上）、非 EOI 30%；clean building MIT 10%（本篮子不适用）；NCMI 部分（如住宅收入）即使 EOI 也 30%。

利息成分按 10% 预扣；税递延/非评税金额完全不预扣，但会在 AMIT 下逐年削减成本基础（AMMA 报表须逐年保存；削减耗尽后超出部分转资本利得）。
就基金支付部分，扣掉的 15% 即澳洲税单终点、无须澳洲报税；<10% 的上市单位持股卖出本身一般不在澳洲 CGT 内。MIT 预扣无任何已立法的上调——与之常被混淆的外国居民卖实物地产 CGT 预扣（12.5%→15%，2025-01-01 起）是直投制度。

Double-tax treaties: 15% 为澳洲国内法对 EOI 居民的终局预扣，不依赖条约主张。

Source: ATO MIT 预扣页与税率表（s.12-390）

This section is general information only — not immigration or tax advice. Program rules change frequently; before acting, rely on the official texts and a licensed adviser.

Risks: what could go wrong

Premium names carry capital risk: SGP at a 4.8% premium to NTA and GMG at 136% have no asset cushion under their prices — a de-rating hits principal. The core basket's capital story sits with the discounted two (DXS −32%, SCG −2.7%) and near-par GPT (−7.7%). If these happen, our take changes: Reviewed half-yearly against NTA and price readings.

Composition drift widens withholding: halves with more interest, more NCMI (such as certain residential income) or large TAP gains suffer higher actual withholding than quiet rent halves — 15% is a rate on one component, not a promise on the whole cheque. If these happen, our take changes: Checked each half against each name's component notices (12-H/AMMA).

What we have not verified yet

The following key figures have not yet been verified; the reason is noted for each item.

Scentre has no single citable tax-deferred percentage (its tax statement is presented per trust as shares of attributed amounts, with attributed income exceeding cash) — this site gives it only the conservative-method in-hand figure and invents no composition.
Dexus's public composition table is FY25 basis (the FY26 AMMA was issued but its public composition was not captured); GPT publishes no single fund-payment percentage, so its withholding drag is this site's derivation (operator estimate). Singapore-side tax on amounts received varies by holder and is not modelled.

FAQ

Everyone says Australian REIT withholding is 15% — why is your in-hand drag smaller?: Because the 15% applies only to the fund-payment part of each distribution. An Australian stapled distribution is a mixed cheque: fund payments (15%), interest (10%) and tax-deferred amounts (0% — but they erode your cost base). Stockland's latest official split was 48.4% fund payment and 51.6% interest, a blended drag of only about 12.4%; over a third of GPT's cheque is tax-deferred. In the other direction, NCMI (non-concession income, such as some residential income) is withheld at 30% even for EOI residents — so the right question is never 'what is the rate' but 'what is this cheque made of'.
Goodman is Australia's biggest property stock — why is it out of the basket?: It is out of the yield, not out of the sector: it pays out only about 23% of operating earnings, its DPS has not moved in three years (30.0c), and its price sits at a 136% premium to NTA — the market is buying its development pipeline and data-centre story, not rent. Equal-weighting it into an income basket dilutes 5.29% of income into 4.45% while letting a reader believe the 1.08% is also 'property yield'. This site's treatment is 4+1: income as income, growth as growth, each priced separately.
Is GPT's tax-deferred third (35%) actually income?: The cash is real, the tax is deferred, and the income character is mixed: it is mostly distribution capacity created by non-cash deductions such as depreciation — economically close to 'part of your principal returned early as a distribution', which is why the cost base must be reduced each year (AMMA records), and amounts received after the base is exhausted become capital gains. This site's treatment matches its Korea REIT page: the yield is printed (the cash does arrive), with the tax-deferred share printed beside it, never allowed to impersonate sustainable taxable income.

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Data dates are marked per metric; page updated 2026-11-08. This site publishes information and is not investment advice; the corrections channel is in the Disclaimer。