The Risk-Return Attributes of International Real Estate Equities

Abstract

This paper examines the risk and return attributes of international real estate equities over the 1980-1988 time period. The empirical results indicate that international real estate equities offer higher returns as well as greater total and systematic risk than U.S.-based REITs. The results also indicate that international real estate equities are weakly positively correlated with the return on REITs. International real estate equities achieve higher values for both the Treynor and Jensen measures than either the S&P 500 Index or the World Equities Index. International real estate equities also outperform domestic real estate companies on a risk-adjusted basis. However, international real estate equities underperform the World Equities Index using the Sharpe Index which suggests that international real estate equities carry significant unsystematic risk.