To the extent that a property portfolio is dependent on a small number of tenants for a large proportion of rental revenue, the portfolio has a concentrated tenant base. This article investigates the impact of tenant concentration on property portfolio performance, risk, and the cost of debt. Utilizing the disclosure of major tenants by 152 Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) from 2000 to 2017, I document a positive relation between tenant concentration and profitability. REITs with greater tenant concentration experience higher profit margins and lower expense ratios, suggesting the positive relation between tenant concentration and profitability is driven by increased operational efficiency. Although these REITs are more efficient, tenant concentration is often stated as a risk in public disclosures. Consistent with this view, I find that REITs with greater tenant concentration have greater idiosyncratic risk. Further, banks appear to price this risk into their rate setting process and penalize REITs with greater tenant concentration. Accounting for the quality of the tenant base, the positive effects of tenant concentration are prevalent in REITs with high quality tenants and the negative effects of tenant concentration are prevalent REITs with low quality tenants.

如果房地产投资组合依赖于少量租户以获取很大一部分租金收入，则该投资组合具有集中的租户基础。本文研究了租户集中度对房地产投资组合绩效，风险和债务成本的影响。利用2000年至2017年间152个股票房地产投资信托（REIT）披露的主要租户，我记录了租户集中度与获利能力之间的正相关关系。租户集中度较高的REIT的利润率更高，费用率也更低，这表明租户集中度与利润率之间的正相关关系是由运营效率的提高驱动的。尽管这些房地产投资信托基金效率更高，但在公开信息披露中往往将租户集中作为一种风险。与此观点一致，我发现租户集中度更高的房地产投资信托具有更高的特质风险。进一步，银行似乎将这种风险计入了利率制定过程中，并对租户集中度更高的房地产投资信托进行了惩罚。考虑到租户基础的质量，租户集中的正面影响在具有高质量租户的REIT中普遍存在，而租户集中的负面影响则是在劣质租户中的普遍REIT。