Exploring Economic Factors to Enhance the Performance of Real Estate Investment Trusts in the Eastern European Region

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explores the economic determinants that can improve the performance of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in Eastern European economies. Employing a cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) approach, the findings show that an improvement in dividend yield, net income, stock return, exchange rates, and size can improve the performance of REITs. However, leverage and interest rates adversely affect the performance of REITs. The study spotlights the crucial role standardized regulation can play in mitigating fragmentation in the real estate market, being capable of streamlining capital allocation and hence, offering notable advantages to REITs in smaller Eastern European states.