REITs as an Instrument of Collective Investments in Russia and the USA

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to analyze the activities of Russian mutual funds of real estate and the development of the collective investment industry. To do this, we compare the results of the activities of the Russian mutual funds of real estate with analogues existing in the United States (REITs). We show that such mutual funds of real estate take an important place in the Russian financial system. But the average annual profitability of the closed-end investment fund of real estate in Russia was 6.14 % during 2013–2017, which did not exceed inflation (7.73 %) and the yield on bank deposits (7.86 %). The USA’s REITs profitability over the same period was 9.9 %, which is several times higher than inflation (1.32 %) and deposit profitability (0.6 %), which explains the popularity of this collective investment instrument among the population in the United States. The assets of the mutual funds of real estate in Russia are many times less than the analogues in the USA. The advantage of REITs is that their shares are freely traded on the stock exchange. For the purchase or sale of shares of the closed-end investment fund of real estate, you need to catch the moment of the beginning of the formation or termination of the fund's activity, respectively, and shares are rarely circulating on the exchange. For the period 2015–2017 inflation in Russia drops significantly, reaching 2.51 % in 2017. Together with it, the rates on deposits gradually decrease. If this trend continues, investment in the closed-end investment fund of real estate will become more attractive. The factor of growth of the Russian mutual funds of real estate could be the amendments to the Federal Law No. 214 “About Participation in Shared-Equity Construction of Apartment Houses…”

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“…Real estate is considered one approach to hedge against inflation, given the asset class usually has little correlation with stocks and bonds, and therefore naturally, investor interest is soaring. The USA's REITs profitability during 2013–2017 was 9.9%, which is several times higher than inflation (1.32%) and deposit profitability (0.6%), which explains the popularity of this collective investment instrument among the population in the United States (Sedipkova, 2019). Using the Granger non-causality test, the authors demonstrate that a unidirectional relationship, in which inflation-rate shifts cause REIT index changes, exists in Japan and Singapore and that a wealth effect, in which stock index movements cause REIT index changes, exists in Singapore (Fang et al ., 2016).…”