REIT industry liquidity, valuation, and ownership reactions to ETF inceptions

We examine the impact of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) inceptions on the valuation, ownership structure, and liquidity of the U.S. REIT market. We posit that the relative homogeneity and concentration of the REIT industry creates a strong interconnection among REITs, especially for events that involve a significant number of firms in the industry. Initial perusal of the data suggests that the scarce supply of REITs forces new funds to include, on average, 60% of all existing REITs in their portfolios thus shocking the industry as a result of fund creations. We find that REITs experience a significant increase in institutional ownership and in stock turnover upon ETF inceptions. Small REITs experience a positive valuation effect, a significant increase in number of shareholders, and a significant reduction in shadow cost, while large capitalization REITs experience a significant negative valuation effect. We attribute this result to portfolio rebalancing effects driven by the increased visibility and coverage of small REIT stocks as a consequence of fund inceptions. We additionally find that buy-and-hold abnormal returns are positive and significant for all REITs, suggesting a permanent impact of ETF inceptions on REIT valuations. Finally, we find that REIT ETF inceptions create permanent increases in volatility in the REIT industry.