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In this paper, we investigate the impact of COVID-19 on different performance measures and the risk of US Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with different styles. Our findings suggest a phenomenon with compelling evidence of reduced performance without any significant changes in risk profile amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, mortgage REITs (MREITs) appear to be more adversely affected compared to equity REITs (EREITs). We further explore and analyze the performance of specialized REITs in contrast to diversified REITs in the distinctive conditions presented by COVID-19. We find that diversification creates value for the entire sample period, whereas, during the COVID-19 pandemic, property type specialization helps, although the results are weakly significant. The findings on risk suggest investors’ short-run outlook on market reaction. These results remain robust to additional tests. The implications provide insight for investors as a reference to reallocate assets in their portfolios during uncertain times.
Damani et al. (Mon,) studied this question.