The spring sun is gleaming on many Australian REITS, at least in Moody's eyes. And small scale residential property investors are just as happy, it seems.The outlook for rated Australian real estate investment trusts "is stable with all three segments - office, retail and industrial - recording continued growth in income over the next 12-18 months," Moody's said yesterday. Net aggregate annual average net operating income growth for 13 rated A-REITs "will increase slightly to about 3.0 per cent during the coming 12-18 months," it said, "excluding growth from acquisitions, investments and developments." Moody's cited "contracted rent increases in existing leases and broadly steady vacancy rates, while the small pick-up from the 2.6 per cent income growth of the last 12 months is attributable to good demand for office space in Sydney and Melbourne, and strong industrial dynamics for Sydney."The office segment will be buoyed by improving vacancy rates and support from contracted rental income."At the other end of the scale, the annual survey of residential property investors, commissioned by the Property Investment Professionals of Australia gives a view into the thinking of residential property investors. "As borrowing costs rise, investors are on the hunt for a better deal," PIPA reported.Noting that lenders are raising interest rates out of cycle with the Reserve Bank of Australia's cash rate, almost half (49 per cent) said they are considering fixing their interest rate for some or all their loans. More than 23 per cent said they would consider refinancing their loan for an interest rate differential of 0.5 percentage points, while another 23 per cent would consider refinancing for one percentage point."Given lenders are charging higher interest rates for interest-only loans, 29 per cent of investors either have switched or intend to switch to principal and interest repayments," PIPA reported.