After a crushingly bad year in the wake of the global financial crisis, Asia’s real estate investment trust sector appears to be making a comeback following a surge in equity issues and a recovery in market valuations.

The crisis drove the sector’s total market capitalisation in the region down from more than $200bn in September 2007 to a low of just $77bn in March this year, according to the Asian Public Real Estate Association, a Singapore-based industry group. At that level, Asian Reits were largely trading at a discount to net asset values, which made it next to impossible to raise funds to reduce leverage and strengthen balance sheets.