eprintid: 3818 rev_number: 6 eprint_status: archive userid: 1 dir: disk0/00/00/38/18 datestamp: 2022-05-03 11:44:20 lastmod: 2022-05-03 11:44:20 status_changed: 2022-05-03 11:44:20 type: thesis metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 1 creators_name: Vries, L.N. de creators_id: S3175898 creators_email: l.n.de.vries.1@student.rug.nl title: REIT Performance Relative to the Stock Market during the 2020 Pandemic ispublished: unpub full_text_status: public abstract: Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are an asset class that is often praised by investors for its diversification potential. Over the course of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, REITs experienced a substantial crash that occurred simultaneously with the stock market. This brings up the question whether or not REITs also provide a diversification potential in those times and to what extent they are impacted by the stock market. A vector autoregression is proposed in order to assess the relationship between 193 REITs and of the 500 largest stocks in the USA over the period from 2-1-2019 to 31-12-2020. In addition to REITs and stocks, the dataset contains variables for valuations, market capitalization and real estate properties. This research suggests that REIT performance is causally impacted by the S&P500, market valuation and market capitalization, explaining 32,3%, 19,2% and 3,5% of REIT performance respectively. Properties only account for 3% of REIT returns and is not a causal variable either. Therefore, REITs had limited diversification benefits and became correlated to the stock market in terms of their performance during the 2020 pandemic. date: 2021 pages: 49 thesis_type: master degree_programme: VG tutors_name: Vlist, A.J. van der tutors_organization: Fac. Ruimtelijke wetenschappen, Basiseenheid Economische Geografie tutors_email: A.J.van.der.Vlist@rug.nl security: validuser keywords_local: REITs keywords_local: stock market keywords_local: finance keywords_local: portfolio management language_iso: nl agreed_repository: yes date_issued: 2022-05-03 citation: Vries, L.N. de (2021) REIT Performance Relative to the Stock Market during the 2020 Pandemic. Master thesis. document_url: https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/3818/1/Niels%20de%20Vries_S3175898.pdf