Australian property groups Macquarie CountryWide and Dexus have between them raised almost A$609m in capital in the US.

Shopping centre investor Macquarie Countrywide Trust said yesterday it had completed the first Australian issue of commercial mortgage-backed securities in two years through the sale of A$265m worth of notes, while Dexus had a $US300m (A$343.8m) debt issue in the US bond market.

The new Macquarie CountryWide securities, arranged by National Australia Bank, will have a triple-A rating assigned by both Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.

The Australian