Attention to ‘sustainability’ and energy efficiency rating schemes in the commercial property sector has increased rapidly during the past decade. In the UK, commercial properties have been certified under the BREEAM rating scheme since 1999, offering fertile ground to investigate...

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its effect on firm performance is receiving increasing academic interest. However, most of the literature excludes the financial sector and, more important, listed property funds. This is surprising, as the real estate sector has a major...

This research exploits the experimental laboratory offered by REITs by investigating how REIT corporate governance affects performance. We follow Gompers, Ishii and Metrick (2003) and use a corporate governance index to measure the overall impact of corporate governance on various measures of...

Capital investments in energy efficiency in the built environment are a cost-effective manner to achieve substantial reductions in current carbon emissions. In fact, improvements in the energy-efficiency or sustainability of buildings have been shown to lead to positive financial returns....

We evaluate the economics of financial intermediation in alternative assets by investigating the allocation and performance of pension fund investments in real estate, the most significant alternative asset class for institutional investors. We document substantial heterogeneity in real estate...

Energy labels have proven to be an effective means for nudging households to make sustainable choices. The label information regarding future energy use has inspired consumers around the world to opt for more energy efficient cars to commute to work and to select more efficient appliances at...

Real estate has been at the forefront of the financial crisis, with the intransparency of securitized products, such as MBS, CMBS, and CDOs, playing a critical role. Real estate equity investments have received less attention during the crisis. Listed property companies (REITs) offer an...

The literature regarding mergers and acquisitions suggests various motives for delisting: improving managerial efficiency, undervalued shares, size effect, agency costs, and, most importantly, taking on extra debt to reduce cost of capital and decrease agency problems. These arguments could also...

Commercial buildings play a major role in determining U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, yet surprisingly little is known about the environmental performance of different buildings at a point in time or how the same buildings perform over time. By exploiting a unique panel of commercial buildings...

Inferences about the determinants of land prices in urban areas are typically based on housing transactions, which combine payments for land and long-lived improvements. In contrast, we investigate directly the determinants of urban land prices within a metropolitan area – the San Francisco...