Toshiyuki Anegawa Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Down one notch to No. 3 is Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Toshiyuki Anegawa. “He has great valuation and operational data on the sector,” observes one loyalist. Anegawa covers 14 real estate investment trusts and sees reason for optimism: “If regulatory reform that allows REITs to buy back their own shares moves ahead in the latter half of 2012, I believe most of the discounted REITs will be rerated and share prices will rise sharply,” he says. His top picks are Mori Trust Sogo Reit and Daiwa House Residential Investment Corp.; both Tokyo-based outfits offer attractive yields and strong growth potential, Anegawa says. Plus, “Daiwa House Residential has ¥20 billion [$242.7 million] negative goodwill, which supports its dividend in terms of accounting,” he explains. “It has a pretty good development pipeline from its sponsor, Daiwa House, and its dividend will increase due to acquisitions better than its peers.”  — Leslie Kramer