REIT VS NON-REIT MALLS. WHICH PERFORMS BETTER?

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to find out whether REIT or non-REIT malls perform better in terms of patronage levels and consumers’ evaluation of the malls. Methodology: Pedestrian count is used to gauge patronage levels and four samples are taken for each period on weekdays and weekends. Two-sample t-tests are employed to test if the differences between REIT and non-REIT malls are statistically significant. A survey is also conducted to find out the duration spent in the respective malls, expenditure levels for the different malls and which factors are the most highly valued by way of comparing means . In addition, the evaluation of the malls is matched with a benchmark to find out the average deviation of the mall is from the benchmark. The Mann-Whitney Test is then adopted to test if there is any significant difference in the evaluation of REIT and non-REIT mall. Findings: REIT malls have a tendency to perform better than non-REIT malls in absolute terms for pedestrian count. However, for Central Business District (CBD), the evaluation of Marina Square, a non-REIT mall may be evaluated more favourably than Raffles City, a REIT mall. Limitations: The better performance of REIT malls than non-REIT malls may not necessarily hold true all the time and is very much dependent on individual malls’ management or may not even be a direct result of management.