Investment Decisions on Illiquid Assets: A Search Theoretical Approach to Real Estate Liquidity

ISBN-13: 9783834910042 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 438 str.

Jaroslaw Morawski; Prof Dr Heinz Rehkugler

Opis

The Portfolio Selection Model developed by Markowitz in the 1950s offers a theore- cally founded approach to combining securities into a utility-optimizing investment portfolio, that is, a portfolio leading to the best possible trade-off between the expected return and investment risk. However, when applied in practice, the model often rea- es its limits as soon as certain central assumptions are not fulfilled. This holds es- cially for the assumption of perfect liquidity of all assets in the portfolio, that is, the ability of selling or buying any of these assets at any time immediately and without influencing its market price. A serious additional source of investment risk may arise when no organized and centralized market for a specific asset exists that would d- close the currently prevailing price level, and when the valuations of the asset differ strongly among market participants. Examples of such assets characterized by limited liquidity and valuations' heterogeneity are direct real estate investments, private eq- ty, and many other privately traded goods. A number of rather simple extensions to the Markowitz model allowing for listed - curities with limited liquidity have been developed to date. They are usually based on a price discount due to the lacking ability of an immediate sale. The work of Mora- ki, however, goes further and offers a complex model of market participants' behavior on illiquid markets with heterogeneous expectations.

Recenzje

Die Arbeit wurde mit dem gif Immobilien-Forschungspreis 2008 ausgezeichnet.

Spis treści

The concept of liquidity, search in illiquid markets, liquidity measurement, liquidity as a decision criterion, liquidity of German condominium markets

O autorze

Dr. Jaroslaw Morawski promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Heinz Rehkugler am Lehrstuhl für Finanzwirtschaft und Banken der Universität Freiburg. Er ist als Immobilien-Researcher bei RREEF Alternative Investments tätig.

Blurb

Real estate, private equity, arts, and even wine are gaining increasing popularity as capital investments. Attractive risk-return profiles and high diversification potentials make them valuable additions to investment portfolios. Their main drawback, however, is the low level of liquidity. Such assets cannot be bought or sold quickly without compromising large portions of their value. Despite its high practical relevance, this issue has so far received only little attention from researchers.

Jaroslaw Morawski offers a practicable and theoretically well-founded solution to the problems encountered when investing in illiquid assets. Building on the Theory of Search, the author develops a model of the liquidation process for this category of investments. He uses the model to propose a number of methods for measuring liquidity, optimizing exit strategies, and allowing for liquidity in the traditional mean-variance portfolio selection. The result is a coherent investment decision framework designed specifically for private real estate but applicable also to other illiquid assets.