REIT Research at Mizzou

Among the interesting research being conducted by the faculty and students in the Department of Finance at the University of Missouri is the current research on real estate investment trusts (REITs).  This project encompasses the work of department chair Dan French, doctoral student Chris Tamm, and former Discovery Fellow Ben Nibarger.

The group is investigating the effect on REIT performance of internal versus external management, internal versus external advising, and institutional holdings.  With this basis, they are specifically examining three different hypotheses:

1. Internally managed REITs will outperform externally managed ones.
2. Internally advised REITs will outperform externally advised ones.
3. Institutional investors will mitigate the underperformance of externally managed and advised REITs.

Through an examination of each REIT’s annual report and/or 10-K, historical returns, and quarterly institutional holdings, the team is working to prove or disprove the aforementioned hypotheses and offer additional insight into the performance of real estate investment trusts.