The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether real estate investment trusts (REITs) have any significant cost-efficiency advantages over real estate operating companies (REOCs).,The data for listed companies were extracted from the Bloomberg terminal. The authors analyzed financial ratios and conducted a non-parametric data envelope analysis (DEA) for 534 firms in the USA, Canada and some EU member states.,The results suggest that REITs were much more cost-efficient than REOCs by all the parameters in the DEA model during the entire three-year period under consideration. Although the debt-to-equity levels were similar, REOCs were more relying on short-term than long-term maturities, which made them more vulnerable against market corrections or shocks. Being larger in asset size did not necessarily guarantee greater economies of scale. Both – the cases of increasing economies of scale and diseconomies – were detected. The time period 2015–2017 showed the general trend of decreasing efficiency.,Very few papers on the topic of REITs have attempted to find out whether a different firm structure displays any differences in efficiency. Because the question of REITs and sustainable growth of the real estate market has become a prominent issue, this research can help EU countries to consider the option of adopting a REIT system. If this system were successfully implemented, the EU member states could benefit from a more sustainable and more rapid growth of their real estate markets.

中文翻译：

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欧盟其他国家是否错过了REITs？

本文的目的是调查房地产投资信托（REIT）是否比房地产运营公司（REOC）具有显着的成本效率优势。上市公司的数据摘自Bloomberg终端。作者分析了财务比率，并针对美国，加拿大和一些欧盟成员国的534家公司进行了非参数数据包络分析（DEA）。结果表明，REIT的所有参数都比REOC更具成本效益。在考虑的整个三年期间内的DEA模型。尽管债转股水平相似，但REOC比短期到期更依赖短期到期，这使它们更容易受到市场调整或冲击的影响。资产规模更大并不一定能保证更大的规模经济。规模经济和不经济增长的案例都被发现。2015-2017年期间显示出效率下降的总体趋势。关于REITs主题的论文很少，试图找出不同的公司结构是否显示出效率差异。由于房地产投资信托基金和房地产市场的可持续增长问题已成为一个突出的问题，该研究可以帮助欧盟国家考虑采用房地产投资信托基金系统的选择。如果该系统得以成功实施，则欧盟成员国将从其房地产市场更可持续，更快速的增长中受益。很少有关于房地产投资信托基金的论文试图找出不同的公司结构是否显示出效率方面的差异。由于房地产投资信托基金和房地产市场的可持续增长问题已成为一个突出的问题，该研究可以帮助欧盟国家考虑采用房地产投资信托基金系统的选择。如果该系统得以成功实施，则欧盟成员国将从其房地产市场更可持续，更快速的增长中受益。很少有关于房地产投资信托基金的论文试图找出不同的公司结构是否显示出效率方面的差异。由于房地产投资信托基金和房地产市场的可持续增长问题已成为一个突出的问题，该研究可以帮助欧盟国家考虑采用房地产投资信托基金系统的选择。如果该系统得以成功实施，则欧盟成员国将从其房地产市场更可持续，更快速的增长中受益。