The dynamics of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Pan-Asia's real estate investment trusts

Abstract

This study evaluated the dynamics of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Pan-Asian countries impacted by COVID-19. The countries comprised Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. The study aimed to understand how the global crisis affected the real estate industry, specifically publicly traded companies. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted many industries worldwide, including real estate. It caused changes in supply and demand dynamics, disrupted business operations and affected economic activity. The pandemic has also caused a general economic slowdown, with businesses struggling and unemployment rates increasing in some countries in Asia. This in turn has led to reduced consumer spending and lower demand for all types of properties, impacting the overall performance of the Asian REITs market. This study employed techniques such as Sharpe ratio, variance ratio, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to highlight the dynamics of Asian REITs towards the impact of COVID-19. The findings revealed that all Asian countries were severely impacted by COVID-19, with Japan REITs experiencing the highest drop and Taiwan REITs experiencing the lowest decline.