Insider Ownership and Firm Value: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts

Real estate investment trust (REIT) provides a unique laboratory to study the relation between insider ownership and firm value. One, a REIT has to satisfy special regulations which weaken alternative mechanisms to control agency problems. Empirically, I find a significant and robust nonlinear relation between Tobin's Q and REIT insider ownership that is consistent with the trade-off between the incentive alignment and the entrenchment effect of insider ownership. Two, many REITs are Umbrella Partnership REITs (UPREITs) which have dual ownership structure. They have both common shares and Operating Partnership Units (OP units). Property owners can contribute their properties to the UPREIT in exchange for OP units. Their capital gains taxes remain deferred as long as they hold onto their OP units and the UPREIT does not sell the properties they contributed. OP units owners are locked in with the firm and have incentive to monitor firm management, but their interests diverge from the common shareholders because their tax bases are much lower. Consistent with the trade-off between positive monitoring effect of OP units and tax-induced agency costs, I find that UPREIT's firm value increases with the fraction of OP units, but the effect is significantly weaker for the UPREITs where insiders hold OP units.     

The REIT Modernization Act of 1999

This article examines two effects of the passage of the REIT Modernization Act (RMA) of 1999: its impacts on REIT shareholder wealth and changes in REIT systematic risk in the period following its passage. The results indicate a modest positive wealth effect associated with the legislative events leading to its enactment. Our estimates of the wealth gain probably underestimate the true wealth gain because of the partially anticipated nature of the legislative process. We also document a significant decline in the systematic risk of REITs subsequent to the passage of the RMA. The evidence suggests that this decline is not attributable to a provision of the RMA that allows REITs to establish taxable subsidiaries.     

以REITs推动中国房地产业理性发展的研究

引入房地产投资信托基金（REITs）是中国资本市场与房地产业发展的内在需求,且REITs也符合未来我国房地产金融的总体发展方向。现阶段在中国发展REITs面临的风险主要有政策风险、房地产行业风险、管理风险、外汇管制风险、市场炒作风险以及道德风险等。应正确认识这些风险,并通过建立完善的法律体系以及严格的信息披露制度、管理风险防范制度和外部监管制度,培育机构投资者,拓宽资金来源,建设适合REITs发展的成熟稳定的市场等来规避风险。     

房地产投资信托基金在我国公租房建设中的应用

公租房是我国“十二五”期间重点发展的保障性住房,是解决“夹心层”住房问题的有效途径,然而我国公租房建设面临着严重的资金短缺问题。针对我国公租房建设目前融资问题,文章探析了公租房建设中引入REITs模式的必要性和可行性,对公租房项目REITs的运作模式以及运行保障措施进行分析,以推进公租房项目市场化运作。     

我国REITs发展模式选择及房地产企业经营模式优化研究

本文对比分析了契约型REITs和公司型REITs的特点,结合我国的现实情况,建议目前发展契约型REITs更符合我国国情。在此基础上,为配合契约型REITs的推出,拓宽融资渠道,对我国房地产企业经营模式优化提出了几点建议。     

关于REITs在廉租房融资运用中的探讨

发展廉租房建设是健全我国住房保障体系的重要举措之一,目前我国廉租房融资寄于财政篱下,主要依靠财政拨款。由于融资渠道的单一化,使得如何筹措到足够的资金来满足廉租房建设需求成为一大难题。因此,拓宽廉租房融资渠道,对于解决低收入者的住房问题并减轻政府负担有着积极的意义。文章探索了房地产信托投资基金（REITs）在廉租房融资中的运用,并提出了未来我国发展廉祖房REITs的路径选择。     

投融资平台维度下保障房建设的资金解困之策

在我国保障房建设面临局势紧迫、任务繁重、资金缺口大的形势下,国家允许地方政府投融资平台介入保障房的建设,这对保障房的建设无疑开启了新的纪元.文章在回顾了我国保障房建设历史的基础上,分析其建设过程中遇到的融资困境,探讨在地方政府投融资平台维度下通过发行保障性房债、开发性金融贷款、保障房信托基金(REITs)三种方式解决保障房建设资金短板问题的适宜性和可行性,并阐述了各种方法在实行过程中的或有风险及其防范.     

Performance Analysis of Lodging REITs in Relation to Market Segments

This article examines the financial performance of lodging real estate investment trusts (REITs) in relation to their market focus. Secondary data were collected for from 2004 to 2008 from lodging REITs that were traded on major U.S. stock exchanges. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to assess the efficiencies of market segments to generate financial performance. The results showed that two lodging REITs were consistently efficient during the study period relative to other lodging REITs. In particular, lodging REITs investing and/or operating in one or more relatively similar market segments and those focusing on the upper-upscale segment were more efficient than others. This study could provide managers, owners, and investors of lodging REITs preliminary evidence of the relationship between market segments and firm performance. This article also proposes a framework for future investigations to assess the performance of REITs.     

REIT Returns and Inflation: Perverse or Reverse Causality Effects?

Contrary to the Fisherian theory of interest, previous studies document a negative relationship between REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) returns and inflation. In this research, we re-examine this perverse inflation behavior by testing for the causal relationships among REIT returns, real activity, monetary policy, and inflation through a vector error correction model. Our results indicate that the observations of REIT returns as perverse inflation hedges are spurious. The observed negative relationship between REIT returns and inflation is in fact a manifestation of the effects of changes in monetary policies. These findings are consistent with Darrat and Glascocks (1989) evidence of monetary effects on REIT returns.     

浅谈我国房地产企业中的信托融资

房地产行业在我国国民经济发展中扮演着重要角色,但融资问题是绝大多数房地产企业发展壮大过程中的绊脚石。本文主要探讨房地产融资过程中利用REITs发挥的优势以及存在的一些问题,并根据自身工作经验和学者研究成果,提出一些可行性建议。