With interest rates remaining at historic lows, I think this reinforces the argument that high dividend-paying shares are the best way to secure a long-term income stream, especially in light of recent share price falls across the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).
With that in mind, here are 2 of my top high-yield ASX dividend share picks right now.
Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD)
In many ways, Sydney Airport's significant share price fall since February is to be expected as traffic numbers have dropped off dramatically. For example, in the first 16 days of April international traffic was down by a massive 96.1%.
While there is still likely to be a shortfall in passenger numbers during the months ahead, I believe that this been well factored into its current share price.
In fact, with the health impact of the coronavirus in Australia so far turning out to be less severe than anticipated, it is now appearing increasingly likely that the length of the severe lockdown period on Australian businesses and citizens will be shorter than initially expected.
Australia has seen a flattening of the curve and the number of active coronavirus cases is now down to less than a thousand, and falling every week.
While it will take longer for international air travel to resume again, I believe that domestic travel may start to pick up in the months ahead, faster than anticipated a month ago, as the Australian government begins to urge Australians to go back to work.
In any case, the coronavirus will no doubt eventually pass, and Sydney Airport's passenger traffic will eventually return to normal levels.
With its monopoly status, I believe Sydney Airport is still positioned well for strong growth over the next decade as the long-term trend of rising passenger numbers looks set to continue.
Although Sydney Airport recently cancelled its interim dividend and its final dividend later this year may be reduced, I believe it is highly likely that Sydney Airport will resume normal dividend payouts later in 2022.
Transurban Group (ASX: TCL)
Transurban's traffic volumes have been unsurprisingly impacted by the coronavirus due to the harsh lockdown and travel restrictions, however, the impact has been much less than Sydney Airport.
With Australians now encouraged to get back to work, and general community travel restrictions beginning to be eased, it looks likely that Transurban's traffic numbers will begin to improve faster than first anticipated in the months ahead. Also, some commuters may choose to travel by car rather than by public transport in crowded trains and buses as they return to work.
Transurban owns a virtual monopoly on the toll roads in Australia's 2 largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and also has a number of toll roads in Brisbane. I believe the company appears to be still very well placed to capitalise on a growing population in these locations over the next decade.
Although Transurban withdrew its previous dividend guidance last month and now intends to pay out a fixed proportion of its cash flows this year, I believe that it is likely to resume to its normal high dividend payouts sometime in 2021.
