Investor overconfidence and trading activity in the Asia Pacific REIT markets


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Authors
Bao, Xiaohui 
Li, Steven Haotong 
Abstract

Overconfidence is one of the most robust behavioral anomalies in financial markets. By attributing investment gains to their ability, investors become overconfident and trade aggressively in subsequent periods. Evidence from stock markets shows that overconfidence leads to excessive trading and, subsequently, inferior investment performance. However, studies on overconfidence effect are lacking in the real estate sector, which is particularly true for Asia Pacific real estate investment trust (REIT) markets. Thus, this study examines the overconfidence effect in six Asia Pacific REIT markets, namely, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. The study finds that the overconfidence effect is more conspicuous during market boom periods or in inefficient market conditions. In addition, simulation analysis demonstrates that overconfidence could lead to rather large volumes of excessive trading activities in certain markets. Findings are robust across the alternative measures of control variables. Moreover, the policy implications of the research are also discussed.

Description
Keywords
judgmental bias, behavioral finance, investment decision, real estate
Journal Title
Journal of Risk and Financial Management
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
1911-8066
1911-8074
Volume Title
13
Publisher
MDPI AG
Sponsorship
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/P004296/1)
ESRC