Dual asset markets are unique to real estate. When the assets are held by a real estate investment trust (REIT), properties trade in property markets while claims on cash flows from these assets trade in a public equity market. If the two parallel markets are in disagreement regarding the total market value of underlying assets, then REIT managers are faced with inter-market arbitrage opportunities. If a REIT’s shares trade at premium in the stock market relative to the net asset value (NAV) of the underlying assets, the arbitrage opportunity can be exploited by issuing new equity in the stock market and purchasing assets in the property market with the proceeds from new equity. If a REIT’s shares trade at a discount to NAV, the arbitrage opportunity is achieved by selling assets in the local property market and repurchasing shares of common equity. In this dissertation, I investigate whether REIT managers attempt to exploit such opportunities. Specifically, I identify whether share price premiums or discounts to NAV influence the propensity of REIT managers to purchase versus sell assets in the property market. In addition, I investigate whether the market-wide premiums to NAV influence the relative transaction prices paid for the property while carefully controlling for the sample selection issue in the analyses. Further, since this information is feasible to evaluate by analysts, I investigate how investors in the stock market react when REIT managers issue new equity during periods of premiums to NAV. The analyses use property level transaction data for commercial real estate asset values and stock price data for REITs.

Under det senaste decenniet har antalet fastighetsbolag som noterats på den svenska marknaden ökat markant, och idag är var tionde bolag på börsen ett fastighetsbolag. Denna ökning speglar ett uppsving för fastighetsinvesteringar, som medfört ett ökat inflöde av likviditet i sektorn. Ett inflöde som i sin tur har drivits av ett historiskt lågränteläge, vilket resulterat i att institutionella investerare ökat sin allokering till fastighetssektorn. Fastighetsbolag har generellt sett handlats till substansrabatt över tid, vilket innebär att deras marknadspris är lägre än deras underliggande tillgångar, men på senare tid har förekomsten av substanspremier ökat. Vilket istället innebär att marknadspriset är högre än deras underliggande tillgångar.  Denna studie syftar till att förklara variationen i substansrabatten över studieperioden genom att använda två typer av variabler, bolagsspecifika och makroekonomiska, samt undersöka förekomsten  av diskrepanser mellan delsektorerna bland de noterade fastighetsbolagen. Analysen gjordes med hjälp av paneldataregressioner, där de undersökta bolagen, under en 20-årsperiod, analyserades för tids- och tvärsnittsvariation. Resultatet visar att de undersökta variablerna kan förklara 14% av substansrabattens totala variation under undersökningsperioden. Resultatet visar även förekomsten av sektorspecifika skillnader, där fastighetsbolag verksamma inom industri och logistik, över tid, handlats till substanspremie till skillnad från de övriga undersökta sektorerna. / The number of real estate companies in Sweden has increased significantly over the last decade, and today one in ten listed companies is a property company. This increase reflects a rise in property investment, which has led to an increase in the inflow of liquidity into the sector. This inflow, has, in turn, been fuelled by historically low interest rates, which has encouraged institutional investors to increase their allocations to the real estate sector. While real estate companies have generally traded at a discount to NAV, meaning that their market capitalization is lower than their underlying assets, the prevalence of NAV premiums has increased. This means that their market price is higher than that of their underlying assets.  The aim of this study is to explain the variation in the discount to NAV over the study period using two types of variables, company-specific and macroeconomic variables, and to investigate whether or not sub-sectoral differences among listed real estate companies exist. The analysis was carried out using panel data regressions, where the studied companies were analyzed for time and cross-sectional variation. The results show that the variables examined can explain 14% of the total variation in the NAV discount over the sample period. In addition, the result also proves the existence of sub-sector-specific differences in NAV discount, with real estate companies focused on industry and logistics properties traded at NAV premium in comparison to the rest of the sub-sectors.