Author: William G. Hardin, III and Marvin L. Wolverton

Start Page: 113
End Page: 126
Volume: 17
Issue Number: 1
Year: 1999
Publication: Journal of Real Estate Research

Abstract: Negotiation theory and implied agency costs provide the foundation for the research hypothesis that equity real estate investment trusts (EREITs) may have paid premiums when making real property acquisitions during the 1990s REIT boom. Using a simultaneous equations model and data from the Atlanta, Phoenix and Seattle apartment markets, this research finds that apartment EREITs have paid above market prices for property acquisitions. In Atlanta, a 26.1% premium was evident; in Phoenix, a 27.5% premium was evident; while in Seattle, a premium was not evident. At the property level, the returns to EREITs and private sector or non-securitized investors may differ substantially.