Information Asymmetry and REIT Capital Market Access
Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, July 2019, Volume 59, Issue 1, pp 90–110
Posted: 14 Sep 2019 Last revised: 18 Sep 2019
Date Written: July 28, 2019
Abstract
REITs hold relatively little cash and access capital markets often due to their favorable dividend tax status. The transparent nature of REITs, in theory, implies low information asymmetry. However, we present evidence that this phenomenon is temporal. We find that information asymmetry is relatively low when REITs access the capital market, when compared to non-accessing periods, based on bid-ask spreads for a large number of REITs. Further, we find that REIT size and turnover affect bid-ask spreads, but the pattern of lower bid-ask spreads surrounding capital market access does manifest itself when we investigate subsamples, dependent on size and turnover. Our findings are consistent with the idea that REITs increase their disclosure when they access the capital market, which in turn lowers information asymmetry.
Keywords: REIT; Information Asymmetry; IPO; SEO; Bid-ask Spreads
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