** Citi foresees a more positive investment landscape for Australian real estate stocks , driven by the interest rate cycle expected to begin easing in May

** Brokerage's outlook remains particularly strong for high-growth sub-sectors such as data centers, retail, self-storage and land leases

** We expect declining financing costs will provide additional tailwinds, supporting earnings growth across the broader sector - Citi

** Citi adds Goodman Group remains attractive as the property firm benefits from compounding development growth through global data center demand

** Brokerage positive on retail assets operator GPT Group

as co's new management starts to implement a renewed strategy

** Citi also upgrades property developer Scentre Group's

rating to "buy" from "neutral"

** AXRE subindex up 2.7% so far this year, outperforming a 1.7% gain on the benchmark ASX 200 index

(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

((Nikita.Jino@thomsonreuters.com;))