Purpose – The German banking sector has recently been facing high real estate loan default rates resulting in the accumulation of a high volume of distressed real estate debt in the banks' balance sheets. As a consequence, German banks are confronted with the workout of their non‐ and...

Purpose – This paper seeks to research potential evidence of capital market irregularities by scrutinizing whether the IPO (Initial Public Offering) phenomenon can be found in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Design/methodology/approach – The study employs stock price data of 90 US...

Purpose – Relative to comparable industrialized countries, Germany stands out in terms of its low homeownership rate (43 percent). For Germany, it is unknown so far to what extent the low rate of homeownership can be related to housing being unaffordable. One reason for the lack of evidence is...

Purpose – German real estate markets used to show little transparency in the past. This has changed over the last 15 years. The purpose of this study therefore is to examine the current state of transparency. Design/methodology/approach – The study investigates and discusses the concept of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence for the ongoing significant underpricing of European property IPOs. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides recent evidence on underpricing for a comprehensive data set of 105 IPOs of European property companies. It starts...

Abstract On 5. July 2002 State Secretary Dr. Alfred Tacke gave ministerial approval for the merger of E.ON and Ruhrgas. Previously both the German Cartel Office and the Monopoly Commission had voted against the fusion on the basis of feared restricted competition. According to paragraph 42 § of...

Abstract In this paper Bernd Raffelhüschen gives some insights into the political decision making process which changed the latest German pension reform from a fundamental step towards sustainability into a reform to be reformed. Nevertheless, he explains that the pension reform still bears a...

Abstract For decades, economists have been urging politicians to reform pension systems, but in many cases the proposals have been rejected by referring to unresolved distributional aspects. This dilemma can be avoided by using the concept of constitutional economics, which allows us to address...

Purpose – The aim of the study is to investigate the implementation of corporate sustainability (CS) in the German real estate sector. Design/methodology/approach – The authors begin by outlining the framework set by the European Union and the German Federal Government for companies wanting...

Purpose – Because of globalisation and monetary integration the macroeconomic conditions for industrial countries have become more and more equal. This paper aims to discover whether the synchronisation of business cycles also affected the co‐movement of house prices in OECD countries for...