Herding behavior in real estate markets: Novel evidence from a Markov-switching model

Abstract

Employing a dynamic model that captures herding under different market regimes we provide novel evidence on the herding behavior of US-listed Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Estimates of herding behavior are derived using a Markov regime-switching model. Although static herding model rejects the existence of herding in REITs markets estimates of the regime-switching model reveal substantial evidence of herding behavior under the crash regime for almost all sectors. Most interestingly we observe a shift from negative herding behavior during low and high volatility regimes to positive herding behavior under crash regime for almost all REITs sectors. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.