IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/jpifpp/jpif-01-2017-0001.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The emergence and performance of German REITs

Author

Listed:
  • Graeme Newell
  • Muhammad Jufri Marzuki

Abstract

Purpose - German real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a small but important property investment vehicle in the European REIT landscape, offering German commercial property investment exposure in a liquid format, compared to the more property development-focused German listed property companies and the popular German open-ended property funds. The purpose of this paper is to assess the emergence of the German REIT market and the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of German REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio over 2007-2015. The post-global financial crisis (GFC) recovery of German REITs is highlighted. Enabling strategies for the ongoing development of the German REIT market are also identified. Design/methodology/approach - Using monthly total returns, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of German REITs over 2007-2015 are assessed. Efficient frontier and asset allocation diagrams are used to assess the role of German REITs (and German property companies) in a mixed-asset portfolio. Sub-period analysis is used to assess the post-GFC recovery of German REITs. Findings - German REITs delivered lesser risk-adjusted returns compared to German stocks over 2007-2015, with limited portfolio diversification benefits. However, since the GFC, German REITs have delivered strong risk-adjusted returns, but with continued limited portfolio diversification benefits with German stocks. German REITs also out-performed German property companies. Importantly, this sees German REITs as strongly contributing to the German mixed-asset portfolio across the portfolio risk spectrum in the post-GFC environment. Practical implications - German REITs are a small but important market at a local, European and global REIT level. The results highlight the major role of German REITs in a German mixed-asset portfolio in the post-GFC context. The strong risk-adjusted performance of German REITs compared to German stocks sees German REITs contributing to the mixed-asset portfolio across the portfolio risk spectrum. This is particularly important, as many investors (e.g. small pension funds) use German REITs (and German listed property companies) to obtain their German property exposure in a liquid format, as well as the increased importance of blended property portfolios of listed property and direct property. Originality/value - This paper is the first published empirical research analysis of the risk-adjusted performance of German REITs, and the role of German REITs as a listed property vehicle in a mixed-asset portfolio. This research enables empirically validated, more informed and practical property investment decision making regarding the strategic role of German REITs in a portfolio.

Suggested Citation

  • Graeme Newell & Muhammad Jufri Marzuki, 2018. "The emergence and performance of German REITs," Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(1), pages 91-103, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:jpifpp:jpif-01-2017-0001
    DOI: 10.1108/JPIF-01-2017-0001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JPIF-01-2017-0001/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JPIF-01-2017-0001/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/JPIF-01-2017-0001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Richter, 2022. "Trading Activity in Public Real Estate Markets," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Mustafa Kemal Yilmaz & Ali Osman Kusakci & Ekrem Tatoglu & Orkun Icten & Feyzullah Yetgin, 2019. "Performance Evaluation of Real Estate Investment Trusts using a Hybridized Interval Type-2 Fuzzy AHP-DEA Approach: The Case of Borsa Istanbul," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(06), pages 1785-1820, November.
    3. Cherif Famara Badji & Cristiane Benetti & Renato Guimaraes, 2021. "Diversification Benefits of European REIT, Equities and Bonds," Post-Print hal-03592183, HAL.
    4. Keagile Lesame & Elie Bouri & David Gabauer & Rangan Gupta, 2021. "On the Dynamics of International Real Estate Investment Trust Propagation Mechanisms: Evidence from Time-Varying Return and Volatility Connectedness Measures," Working Papers 202152, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:jpifpp:jpif-01-2017-0001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.