Anchoring and adjustment and herding behaviour as heuristic-driven bias in property investment decision-making in South Africa

Behavioural finance involves a study of the process and influence of human aspects in decision-making and how they influence markets. The core principle of behavioural research in various disciplines is a focus on identifying the ways in which behaviour differs from a normative framework, and this principle can also be applied in an economic context.One aspect of behavioural finance, heuristic-driven bias, reflects the fact that decision makers adhere to the underlying principles of a specific rule of thumb that may lead to judgement errors. This study’s objective was to determine whether anchoring and adjustment and herding behaviour as heuristic-driven bias influences listed property fund managers in South Africa’s property investment decisions.The study surveyed the fund managers of all South African-based property funds listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). Non-parametric statistical measures were used. Although no statistical significant results were found on anchoring and adjustment and herding behaviour, consistency with other studies do suggest that anchoring exist in the decisions made by listed property fund managers. They disregarded the fact that new information deemed the original anchor property less favourable.This study recommends that property fund managers should be alerted that, although no statistical evidence on anchoring and adjustment were found, the consistency with other studies does suggest that they might be prone to the anchoring and adjustment heuristic-driven bias. Such bias may lead to judgement errors and the potential of a missed gain. This study expands the body of knowledge surrounding property investment decision behaviour in an emerging market.