Brexit and the Value of European Real Estate Companies

This research investigated the impact of the Brexit Referendum on the value of real estate investment companies in the UK and the EU. In order to assess whether the Brexit Referendum imposed different effects between EU member states due to potential relocations from the UK to the EU, event studies are performed on a relocating sample and an on-relocating sample. There locating sample consists of companies from EU member states which are popular potential relocating locations. The non-relocating sample represents companies from the other EU member states. This study uses all publicly listed REIT sand REOCs in the UK and in the remaining 27 EU member states. In addition, the role of foreign exchange exposure on stock returns during the Brexit Referendum out comes is analysed. The results show that the Brexit Referendum imposed a significantly negative impact on companies incorporated in the UK. For EU incorporated companies no significant results have been found. In addition, no significant difference is observed for the potential relocating countries relative to the non-relocating countries. With respect to the role of foreign exchange exposure, the results show that geographic investment allocation and shareholder nationality significantly impacted the returns of real estate investment companies following the Brexit Referendum.