Switching volatility and cross-market linkages in public property markets

The primary contribution of this study is to examine the changes in cross-market relationship in international public property markets from a volatility regime switching perspective from January 1990 to January 2012. We find that global developed public property markets can be adequately characterised by a SWARCH model. In particular, most of the persistence in real estate stock price volatility can be attributed to the persistence of low-, medium- and high-volatility regimes in international developed public property markets. Moreover, there is a significant volatility increase during the crises periods for all markets examined. However, the identified high-volatility regime appears short-lived. Based on the SWARCH results, we find that the dynamic linkages among the markets are positively dependent on volatility regime. Specifically, the market correlations, foreign market influence, aggregate variance spillover index and variance-covariance matrix have intensified as market volatility increases during this period. Moreover, the evolution of the cross-market linkages among the sample public property markets is influenced significantly by both a time trend and a volatility regime factor that are independent of the influences of the global stock market and national stock markets. Our results imply that risk-reduction via international diversification in public property markets may only hold true in low-volatility periods. Consequently, portfolio managers need to understand and implement volatility state-dependent optimal asset allocation in order to better advise their clients.