A review of: “FORTY CENTURIES OF WAGE AND PRICE CONTROLS: HOW NOT TO FIGHT INFLATION” by R. L. Schuettinger and E. F. Buttler,Caroline House,Ottawa, Illinois, 1979, 184 pagea,list $9.95.

We show that when a project is financed with amortized debt, traditional capital budgeting procedures may lead to biased net present values. A model is presented, based on the seminal work of Modigliani-Miller, which allows the net present value of a project to be determined by a weighted average cost of capital that varies with the amortization process.

The implications are substantial for financing arrangements such as long term loans, sinking fund debt, leasing, real estate financed by mortgages, and discount debt obligations.     

Banking Relationships and REIT Capital Structure

This article examines the evolution of real estate investment trust (REIT) capital structure in the new REIT era with a focus on the effects of banking relationships on REIT capital structure. Using a unique sample of REITs from 1992 to 2003, we find that, after controlling for firm characteristics, REITs with banking relationships are more likely to obtain long‐term debt ratings and subsequently issue public debt. Moreover, REITs with banking relationships tend to use less secured debt and have lower leverage. These findings support the notion that banking relationships facilitate REITs' access to the public debt markets and help explain why REITs shift from traditional mortgage financing to bank debt and public capital market financing. The results also support the proposition that firm leverage should be positively related to the amount of a firm's secured debt.     

The Cross-Sectional Dispersion of Commercial Real Estate Returns and Rent Growth: Time Variation and Economic Fluctuations

We estimate the cross-sectional dispersions of returns and growth in rents for commercial real estate using data on U.S. metropolitan areas over the sample period 1986 to 2002. The cross-sectional dispersion of returns is a measure of the risk faced by commercial real estate investors. We document that, for apartments, offices, industrial and retail properties, the cross-sectional dispersions are time varying. Interestingly, their time-series fluctuations can be explained by macroeconomic variables such as the term and credit spreads, inflation and the short rate of interest. The cross-sectional dispersions also exhibit an asymmetrically larger response to negative economics shocks, which may be attributable to credit channel effects impacting the availability of external debt financing to commercial real estate investments. Finally, we find a statistically reliable positive relation between commercial real estate returns and their cross-sectional dispersion, suggesting that idiosyncratic fluctuations are priced in the commercial real estate market.     

How Do Firms Finance Nonprimary Market Investments? Evidence from REITs

This study explores the impact of investment characteristics, mainly investment location relative to the firm's primary market, on financing choices by real estate investment trusts (REITs). Using a large sample of commercial property acquisitions, we show that REITs are 4–8% less likely to use secured (mortgage) debt when acquiring properties in their primary markets than elsewhere. The documented evidence supports a demand‐side story for the relation between investment characteristics and financing. Moreover, the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that REITs avoid mortgage financing in their primary markets to preserve operational flexibility in those markets.     

浅析房地产开发企业融资方式之变革

中央人民银行出台《关于进一步加强房地产信贷业务管理的通知》，引发了房地产开发企业融资方式的变化，房地产开发企业应对当前融资环境变化，采取切实可行的融资渠道和资金运营方法，今后将成为主流房地产项目融资方式有：房地产信托投资、房地产企业上市、房地产基金、债券融资和住宅抵押贷款证券化等。     

Asset Price Persistence and Real Estate Market Illiquidity: Evidence from Japanese Land Values

We develop an overlapping generations model of the real estate market in which search frictions and a debt overhang combine to generate price persistence and illiquidity. Illiquidity stems from heterogeneity in agent real estate valuations. The variance of agent valuations determines how quickly prices adjust following a shock to fundamentals. We examine the predictions of the model by studying price depreciation in Japanese land values subsequent to the 1990 stock market crash. Commercial land values fell much more quickly than residential land values. As we would posit that the variance of buyer valuations would be greater for residential real estate than for commercial real estate, this model matches the Japanese experience.     

Real Assets,Liquidation Value and Choice of Financing

We use real estate firms to examine how asset liquidation values influence a firm's financing choice, because the productivity and quality of each asset is observable and potential measures of an asset's liquidation value are easier to ascertain ex ante. We show that compared to firms that issue equity, firms that issue debt have higher asset quality. The effect of their expected asset liquidation value is significant, even after we control for other factors that influence financing decisions. For firms whose assets' quality is not easily observable, we find that firms' financing choices depend heavily on conditions in the overall real estate market.     

对发展房地产投资基金的SWOT分析

通过对房地产资金来源及我国房地产目前的融资途径分析，揭示了目前我国房地产存在的金融风险，指出发展房地产投资基金是一种可以拓宽房地产融资渠道的途径。结合当前我国房地产市场的实际情况，使用SWOT分析办法对房地产投资基金进行了综合研究。     

REIT and Commercial Real Estate Returns: A Postmortem of the Financial Crisis

In the years surrounding the financial crisis, the share prices of equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) were much more volatile than the underlying commercial real estate prices. To better understand this phenomenon we examine the cross‐sectional dispersion of REIT returns during this time period with a particular focus on the influence of their capital structures. By looking at both the debt ratio and the maturity structure of the debt, we separate the pure leverage effect from the effect of financial distress. Consistent with leverage and financial distress costs amplifying the price decline, we find that the share prices of REITs with higher debt‐to‐asset ratios and shorter maturity debt fell more during the 2007 to early‐2009 crisis period. Although REIT prices rebounded with the bounce back in commercial real estate prices, financial distress costs had a permanent effect on REIT values. In particular, we find that REITs with more debt due during the crisis period tended to sell more property and issue more equity in 2009, when prices were depressed.     

If You Promise to Build It,Will They Come? The Interaction between Local Economic Development Policy and the Real Estate Market: Evidence from Tax Increment Finance Districts

The analysis in this article examines the impacts of one of the more prominent economic development tools, tax increment financing (TIF) districts, on the local commercial real estate market. The study area is the city of Chicago, a community with a long history of reliance on TIF districts as a means to foster local development initiatives. A treatment effects model is used to address the selection bias often attributed to studies of public policy impacts on real estate markets. The results indicate that commercial properties located within designated TIF districts exhibit higher rates of appreciation after the area is designated a qualifying TIF district.     

Capital Structure Decisions in Real Estate Investment

This study examines the financing decisions of real estate investors and the choice of capital structure when acquiring income-producing properties. Drawing from the literature in finance and real estate, we develop a capital structure model for real estate investment and derive six hypotheses regarding the relationship of the overall loan-to-value ratio chosen by an investor to selected characteristics of the investment. The hypotheses are then tested using financing data from a sample of apartment and commercial transactions over a fifteen-year period in a specific real estate market. The empirical findings strongly support the importance of depreciation deductions, financial distress costs, capital constraints, tax rates, and interest rates as determinants of the capital structure of real estate investors.     

Debt Capacity of Real Estate Collateral

We study whether real estate assets have a greater positive influence on firm leverage than other tangible assets. Using a large sample of COMPUSTAT firms, we find a significant positive relation between tangibility and leverage in general, and the relation is strongest for real estate collateral. Furthermore, we find that the relation holds only for credit‐constrained firms, i.e., those likely to highly value the additional borrowing capacity of real estate. Our results imply that knowing the composition of a firm's tangible assets is important in understanding its leverage. Our findings could help explain why real estate investment trusts are relatively highly leveraged, even though debt offers them no tax benefit.     

对我国发展房地产投资信托的思考

我国房地产正出于飞速发展时期，巨大的投资需要造成了庞大的融资需求，而近来房地产信贷门槛的提高导致房地产融资成本提高。房地产行业迫切需要银行外的融资渠道，以解决开发和经营的资金问题。从房地产投资信托定义和基本原则入手，将房地产投资信托与其他融资方式进行比较，分析其优势，探讨其运营模式，并提出相关建议。     

Further Evidence on the Capital Structure of REITs

This study examines the determinants of real estate investment trust (REIT) capital structure decisions from 1990 to 2008. Using a broad sample of 2,409 firm‐year observations, we find that asset tangibility is positively related to leverage, whereas profitability and market‐to‐book ratios are negatively related. Additional evidence suggests that firm debt capacity varies systematically with the unique operating and financing mechanisms employed by REITs. These results are robust across both aggregate firm debt levels and marginal security issuance decisions. Finally, our results provide further insight into competing capital structure theories, generally supporting empirical predictions derived from the market timing and trade‐off theories, although failing to support pecking order theory predictions.     

Wealth Effects of Diversification and Financial Deal Structuring: Evidence from REIT Property Portfolio Acquisitions

This study examines the strategic characteristics and shareholder wealth effects of a popular vehicle for Real Estate Investment Trust growth in the 1990s: the acquisition of a portfolio of properties from a single seller. We examine a sample of 209 REIT portfolio acquisitions during 1995-2001. We observe a wide variety of financing strategies and find an array of different categories of sellers. Contrary to results reported in real estate transactions of this sort in the past, we find that announcement-period shareholder returns are significantly positive in the aggregate. We present evidence that excess returns to acquirers result from (1) wealth benefits received when companies reconfirm their geographical focus in the acquisition, (2) positive information conveyed by the use of project-specific private debt and (3) a positive signal sent to the market when transactions are financed by stock privately placed with financial institutions.     

基于多属性综合评价法的房地产企业合作伙伴选择

房地产行业是资金密集型的行业,在国家不断加强宏观调控的情况下许多房地产企业融资发生了困难,在其他融资渠道不畅的情况下,寻求与有实力的公司进行合作开发,无疑可以增强自身的生存能力。应用多属性综合评价方法,为房地产企业选择合作伙伴提供了一种方法。     

Commercial Mortgage Pricing with Unobservable Borrower Default Costs

This paper develops a pricing model for commercial real estate mortgage debt that recognizes the influence of default transaction costs on the borrower's default decision. These costs are heterogeneous across borrowers and largely un-observable to the lender/investor at the time of origination or loan purchase. A recognition of these unobservable costs can explain why borrower default decisions may differ from those predicted by "ruthless" mortgage-default pricing models. We address the determinants of default choice and timing by replacing sharp default boundaries found in the ruthless models with "fuzzy" boundaries that account for investor uncertainty with respect to evaluating borrower default decisions. To implement our model, we estimate probabilities of default as a junction of time and net equity in the property. Then, given that default occurs, loss severities are modeled based on expected property value recovery net of foreclosure costs and time until the asset is actually sold. Under reasonable parameter value choices, resulting Monte Carlo simulations produce numerical mortgage price estimates as well as component default frequency and severity levels that realistically reflect default premiums and loss levels observed in the marketplace.     

商业地产投资的实物期权特性及应用框架研究

商业地产开发投资中存在投资的不可逆性、外部环境的不确定性和决策的灵活性，因而具有实物期权特性。从确定要解决的问题、分析不确定性的来源、鉴别关键的不确定性因素、识别实物期权类型、构建期权定价模型、计算项目价值、检查计算结果和重新设计8个方面，构建了商业地产投资决策的实物期权分析框架。     

宏观调控下房地产业的融资对策研究

与几年前相比，房地产市场相对显得比较低迷，成交量大幅减少，一些开发商的资金链紧绷，而资金链一旦断裂将给房地产企业和相关的金融机构带来很大的风险，因此融资问题已成为房地产企业争取生存和发展的核心问题。鉴于此，通过对房地产融资现状以及相关房地产金融政策的经济效应分析，以期提出较为合理的房地产融资建议，促进房地产业健康持续的发展。     

Throwing Good Money After Bad? Cash Infusions and Distressed Real Estate

When a leveraged real estate project experience cash-flow problems, the owner must either inject additional cash or default on the mortgage. We show that it is not optimal for the owner to default as soon as net cash flow becomes negative. Surprisingly, the owner can expropriate some of the mortgage lender's wealth by injecting cash and continuing to pay interest. When the owner has cash constraints, outside investors may be able to extract significant economic rents by financing distressed real estate projects. These results have interesting implications for mortgage lending and the pattern of real estate transaction volume.