With an average dividend yield of approximately 4%, the Australian share market has proven to be a life-saver for income investors in this low interest environment.
If you're yet to take advantage of the quality dividend shares that are on offer on the local market, then now could be a great time to pick up the shares listed below.
Here's why I like them:
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ)
Thanks to a pullback in this banking giant's shares over the last three weeks, I think now would be an opportune time to buy its shares. Especially with the Royal Commission out of the way and the housing market expected to rebound in 2020. Whilst all the banks are arguably in the buy zone, my preference remains ANZ due to its current valuation, above-average dividend yield, cost-cutting opportunities, and share buybacks. ANZ's shares currently offer investors a trailing fully franked 5.8% dividend yield.
National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)
National Storage is one of the largest self-storage providers in the ANZ market with a network of 146 centres. Whilst this is a large network, the company continues to see opportunities to grow due to the highly fragmented nature of the self-storage market. I expect the combination of organic and acquisitive growth will result in solid distribution growth over the coming years. At present its shares offer a trailing 5.4% distribution yield.
Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)
Another top option for income investors to consider is this agriculture-focused property group. I believe it is one of the best dividend shares on the local market thanks to the quality of its assets and its long term leases. At the last count the company had a weighted average lease expiry of ~11 years. Combined with periodic rental increases, I believe Rural Funds is well-placed to grow its distribution at a solid rate over the next decade. This year Rural Funds intends to pay a distribution of 10.43 cents per share, which equates to a yield of 4.5%.
