This paper examines U.S. REIT leverage decisions and their effects on risk and return. We find that REITs are highly levered relative to industrial firms, with an average market leverage of 46 percent over our 1990-2012 sample period. Using partial adjustment models, we further find that the...

Real Estate investments have been used to provide diversification without increasing portfolio risk, although direct real estate investment has several disadvantages, such as low liquidity and high transaction costs, and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are an alternative investment aim to...

This paper examines U.S. public and private commercial real estate returns at the aggregate level and by the four major property types over the 1994-2012 time period. Returns are carefully adjusted for differences between public and private markets in financial leverage, property type focus, and...

This paper examines U.S. REIT leverage decisions and their effects on risk and return. We document that REITs are highly levered relative to industrial and high debt capacity firms, with an average market leverage of 46 percent over our 1990-2012 sample period. Using dynamic partial adjustment...

Real estate mutual funds have grown dramatically in number, size, scope and assets under management over the last 15 years, but little assessment is evident. The present study addresses this limitation. Better prior period performance is associated with greater shares of fund inflows for a...