global financial crisis and leverage for European reits

What is it about?

The purpose of this paper is to test whether the financial crisis has affected the capital structure of real estate companies in Europe and whether these impacts can be studied utilizing the variables traditionally used by the trade-off and pecking-order theories to explain the capital structure of companies. The study uses a fixed-effect panel regression analysis and a sample composed of companies included in the EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index. The effect of the financial crisis has been accounted for within the model by means of a dummy variable.

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Why is it important?

The global financial crisis did have an impact on the capital structure of companies and the main variables traditionally used by the trade-off and pecking order theories proved to be suitable in explaining the capital structure of real estate companies. Real estate investment trusts are, on average, more leveraged than traditional real estate companies due to their special regulatory status.