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The paper is motivated by the paucity of empirical research on the determinants of capitalisation rates/yield in the commercial property market. Compared to property price determinants, the capitalisation rate has received significantly less attention. This is somewhat surprising given that the capitalisation rate is a more insightful indicator for investors on commercial property market performance than merely price changes or trends. The capitalisation rate, measured as the ratio of net operating income to the property’s capital value, captures the asset’s overall ability to generate income which is crucial for investors who typically invest in property for their income-generating capacity. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

To evaluate the determinants of capitalisation rates, time series analysis was used. The data capture performance in the Australian commercial property market between 2005 and 2018. All macroeconomic and financial data are freely available from official sources such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the nation’s central bank. Methodology wise, given the problematic nature of the data such as a mixed order of integration and the possibility of cointegration amongst some of the I (1) variables, the autoregressive distributed lag model was selected given its flexibility and relative lack of assumptions.

Bond rates, market risk premiums, stock market excess returns and other macroeconomic variables were found to drive capitalisation rates of Australian commercial properties. A 1% increase in the bond rate results in approximately 0.3–2.4% increase in capitalisation rates depending on the sub-market. Further, a 1% increase in excess market returns results in a 0.01–0.02% increase in capitalisation rates. Regarding risk premiums, a 100 basis point increase in the BBB spread results in approximately 0.92–1.27% reduction in cap rates in certain markets.

Asset managers will find these results useful in asset allocation strategies. Commercial properties offer attractive investment qualities such as yield stability in periods of economic uncertainty while allowing for the possibility of capital growth through appreciation of the underlying asset. By understanding the factors that affect the capitalisation rate, practitioners may predict emerging trends and identify threats to portfolio return and stability. This allows better integration of commercial property in the construction of portfolios that remain robust in a variety of market conditions.

The contribution to literature is significant given the lack of similar studies in the Australian market. The performance of real estate assets using cap rates as a comparative measure to equities and bonds influences decisions in asset allocation strategies. It provides crucial information for investors to estimate the performance of commercial property. This research supports the notion that both space and capital market indicators jointly affect capitalisation rates. The findings expand the knowledge base relating to commercial properties and validate the assessments of investors, developers and valuers who utilise yield as a performance benchmark for asset allocation strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to present a basic model of commercial real estate valuation in which the capitalization rate is the critical variable, and to present empirical results for a study of office building capitalization rates.

The model is derived from standard economic and financial theories. The empirical study uses data from the sale of office buildings in 37 downtown markets for 2012. The empirical results are related to concepts of asset market efficiency.

The empirical results show that capitalization rates depend on features of the office buildings, vacancy rate, and recent change in the office building market as captured by the vacancy rate. In other words, investors are using variables implied by standard economic and financial theory and basic economic data from the recent past to determine the capitalization rate.

The empirical results show how investors determine capitalization rates for office buildings, so potential investors can gauge the state of a property market.

The paper shows that changes in capitalization rates are predictable; investors use past data to adjust their capitalization rates. Furthermore, if an investor does not agree that current trends will continue, then the investment decision should be determined accordingly. For example, if an investor thinks that the future will not be as robust as the recent past, then other investors will bid more than the investor thinks is reasonable. However, if the investor sees a future that is brighter than the recent past, it is time to buy.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrated approach that combines the two methods usually used in the real estate appraisals, namely, the income capitalisation method and the hedonic model.

In order to pull out the link between the income capitalisation approach and the hedonic model, the standard hedonic price function is introduced into the basic model of income capitalisation instead of the house market value. It follows that, from the partial derivative, a direct relation between hedonic prices and discount rate can be obtained. Finally, by using the close relationship between income capitalisation and direct capitalisation, a mathematical relation between hedonic prices and capitalisation rate is also obtained.

The developed method allows to estimate the capitalisation rate using only hedonic prices. Indeed, selling and hedonic prices incorporate all of the information required to correctly estimate the capitalisation rate. Furthermore, given the close relation among going-in and going-out capitalisation rates and discount rate, the proposed method could also be useful for determining both the going-out capitalisation rate and the discount rate.

Obviously, it is always preferable to estimate the capitalisation rate by just using comparable transactional data. Nevertheless, the method developed in this paper is especially useful when: the rental income data are missing and/or not entirely reliable; the data on rental income and house price are related to different homes; the capitalisation rate, in fact, should compare the rent and value of identical homes. In these cases, therefore, the method can be a valuable alternative to direct estimation.

The large and important literature on real estate economics and real estate appraisal neglects the relationship between hedonic prices and capitalisation rate, thus considering the hedonic model and the income capitalisation approach as two separate and alternative methods. This paper, instead, shows that integration is possible and relatively simple.

This study investigates the relation between residential property values and both property taxes and public services in Georgia’s counties. Capitalization theory predicts that property values relate negatively to property taxes, and positively to public services. Palmon and Smith (1998) state that errors in public service measures create a capitalization coefficient bias that makes it difficult to isolate tax effects from public service effects. This paper is a first step in defining and quantifying public services and their marginal effect on housing values. It develops public service measures in four quality-of-life areas – economy, education, health, and public safety. The models suggest a strong negative relation between effective tax rates and property values, and a significant positive association between the public service measures and property values. Analyses indicate that property taxes are capitalized into housing prices at greater than 100%, suggesting prior underestimations based on measurement errors in public service variables.

The purpose of this paper, which is the first of a two-part series, is to build upon the established research on environmental economics and sustainability theory developed by Ramsey (1928), Weitzman (2007) and Gollier (2010). The Ramsey-Weitzman-Gollier model, with the contribution of Howarth (2009) and Nordhaus (2007a, b), focuses on discount rate development for environmental and long-term assets, linking discounted utility analysis embedded in the CCAPM model of Lucas (1978) to the policy concerns associated with the valuation of public and sustainable resources. This paper further investigates these issues to the rates structure appropriate for exhaustible resources with a particular emphasis on urban land, based upon the differentiation of strong and weak form sustainability concepts constrained by the objectives of the sustainable criterion of Daly and Cobb (1994).

The paper integrates the concepts of discount rate development for environmental and long-term assets and discounted utility analysis to the policy concerns associated with the valuation of public and sustainable resources. It develops new theoretical insight in order to allow the theoretical formulation of discount and capitalization rates that can be empirically applied and tested.

The paper provides theoretical support for a new approach concerned with the development of capitalization and discount rates in the valuation of non-renewable resources. A key concern of valuing non-renewable or limited resource endowments (in space or time) is the problem of irreversible investment or irrevocable decision implementation as suggested by Arrow-Fisher (1974), Krautkraemer (1985) and Daly and Cobb (1994). It investigates the challenge with developing capitalization rates and valuation of depleting resources temporally, within the constraints of sustainability. To achieve this, an optimal control discounting procedure subject to a sustainable objective statement is employed – in this context it suggests that sustainability should be treated as an alternative to traditional growth and the maximization of near-term returns.

This paper extends the construct of developing rates structures appropriate for the valuation of exhaustible resources. It places a conceptual emphasis on urban land development. The measures developed and the insights gained may serve as a basis for future research on the optimal levels of sustainable development appropriate for different nations.

This paper aims to propose a new valuation method for income producing properties. The model originally called cyclical dividend discount models (d’Amato, 2003) has been recently proposed as a family of income approach methodologies called cyclical capitalization (d’Amato, 2013; d’Amato, 2015; d’Amato, 2017).

The proposed methodology tries to integrate real estate market cycle analysis and forecast inside the valuation process allowing the appraiser to deal with real estate market phases analysis and their consequence in the local real estate market.

The findings consist in the creation of a methodology proposed for market value and in particular for mortgage lending determination, as the model may have the capability to reach prudent opinion of value in all the real estate market phase.

Research limitation consists mainly in a limited number of sample of time series of rent and in the forecast of more than a cap rate or yield rate even if it is quite commonly accepted the cyclical nature of the real estate market.

The implication of the proposed methodology is a modified approach to direct capitalization finding more flexible approaches to appraise income producing properties sensitive to the upturn and downturn of the real estate market.

The model proposed can be considered useful for the valuation process of those property affected by the property market cycle, both in the mortgage lending and market value determination.

These methodologies try to integrate in the appraisal process the role of property market cycles. Cyclical capitalization modelling includes in the traditional dividend discount model more than one g-factor to plot property market cycle dealing with the future in a different way. It must be stressed the countercyclical nature of the cyclical capitalization that may be helpful in the determination of mortgage lending value. This is a very important characteristic of such models.

This paper seeks to compare the capitalisation rate offered by the Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) to retiring GSF members with the alternatives of borrowing and sale of the pension entitlements.

The paper uses standard discounted cash flow techniques.

The principal conclusions are as follows: first, while up to 50 per cent of a GSF member's pension claims can be effectively sold, the restriction that the buyer must be an individual implies a band of possible sale prices with an upper bound equal to that prevailing if sales were unrestricted (present value). Second, borrowing is increasingly favoured over capitalisation as the retirement age declines, and the critical retirement age below which borrowing dominates capitalisation is 64 for men and 66 for women if the GSF member has a spouse at the retirement date and otherwise about three years less. Third, the present value of the pension benefits is well in excess of both the capitalisation rate offered by the GSF and the capitalisation rate implicit in borrowing, implying sale prices even well below present value that are superior to the better of capitalisation and borrowing.

The analysis treats the retirement age of a GSF member as exogenously determined. However, the analysis also provides insights into the optimal retirement age and this issue is currently the subject of further research.

The paper should provide guidance to GSF members who are contemplating capitalisation of their entitlements.

The purpose of this paper is to establish whether a terminal value is a substantial amount of the final figure in a hotel’s valuation. Malta’s scenario has been delved into. This due to the fact that owing to Malta’s high population density and its restrictive land area, land values attract a high premium as compared with larger developed countries. Other matters such as earnings’ multipliers derived from a cap rate (initial yield), CAPEX has also been delved into.

The methodologies adopted in hotel valuation practice has been delved into. An extensive literature review is undertaken to analyse the earnings multiplier adopted by various authors over the past 30-year period. The hotel cap rate (initial yield) has been compared with similar yields adopted in the institutional and property markets and then compares to market-based data. A discussion is undertaken on the validity of adopting discounted cash flow, as against the short cut market appraisal approach. Capitalization rates, cap rates have also been referred to as obtained from the academic and practitioners field and compared. Depreciation and the anticipated annual accommodation charges have been analysed. A database of hotel rooms value over the past 20-year period has been referred.

A table outlines the earnings’ multipliers in perpetuity or for the limited expected design life for various cap rates. This data will act as a guide in guiding practitioners to establish an earnings’ multiplier to be applied in their valuation methodology. An example in the Appendix clarifies the manner in which this data table is to be utilized. The finding of this example notes that for this hotel in Malta, as constructed on private land, the terminal value for this development hovers around the 30 per cent of the market value.

This analysis is based on five valuations as undertaken on five hotels in Malta with classification grades varying from III to V. This notes that the terminal value varies within a range of 9-45 per cent of the total value. This analysis has to be undertaken for other countries for a global range of land terminal values percentages to be established.

Establishing the terminal value of a hotel business, will offer greater security for secured lending facilities required. It will further act as an important tool to establish the feasibility of a hotel development.

Updated insight is given to existing hotel valuation methodologies by delving into the workings of the earnings’ multiplier and establishes that in today’s market the terminal value of the hotel basis has to be accounted for. The above findings are based on a link between theory and practice.

In recent years, prices for prime farmland have increased substantially, begging the question is the dramatic increase the result of a speculative bubble or consistent with market fundamentals with increases driven by increased global demand, low interest rates, and recent changes to US agricultural and energy policies. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of recent agricultural support policies and ethanol policies on farmland values and rental rates.

Farm-level Agricultural Resource Management Survey data collected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) between 1998 and 2008 as well as county-level data collected by the USDA, US Census Bureau, and Bureau of Economic Analysis are used to determine the impacts of recent agricultural support policies and ethanol policies on farmland values and rental rates, while controlling for parcel characteristics and urban pressure. Specifically, weighted ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares are used to investigate the impact of various governmental agricultural support policies, corn ethanol facilities location, and local corn ethanol production capacity on farmland values and rental rates.

The results indicate that government payments, urban pressure, and the proximity of the parcel to an ethanol facility have a positive impact on both farmland values and rental rates. More specifically, parcels located in the same county as at least one corn ethanol facility are more valuable and command higher rental rates. In addition, county-level ethanol production capacity is positively associated with farmland values and rental rates. An inverse relationship between distance of the parcels from an ethanol facility and farmland values is also found; a similar result is found for rental rates.

The findings suggest that agricultural support payments and ethanol policies are capitalized into farmland values. These findings have important implications for the formulation of future farm policy. A limitation of the analyses is that farmland values are estimated by landowners; future research could utilize farmland transaction data to overcome potential biases generated by using landowner estimates. In addition, while our study period covers 11 years, future research could expand the time period further to analyze the effect of more recent agricultural and ethanol policies.

This paper extends prior research pertaining to factors influencing farmland values and rental rates by also examining the proximity of the parcel to an operating ethanol facility using a unique data set.

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology based on the transactional asset pricing approach (TAPA) and to illustrate the application of TAPA within the context of professional property valuation.

The TAPA is a novel analytical valuation methodology recasting the traditional derivations of the income approach techniques, including DCF, from a transactional perspective based on the principle of inter-temporal transactional equity, instead of the conventional investor-specific view originating from I. Fisher (1907, 1930).

The authors present DCF analysis as a specific case of a more general TAPA approach to valuation under the income method. This also leads to novel analytical derivations of the Direct income capitalization, Gordon, Inwood, Hoskold and Ring models. Based on the TAPA framework, the authors also research the value-enhancing effects of benchmark market volatility on the subject property value and conclude that such effects can be statistically significant depending on the DCF analysis period.

The research has a direct bearing on time-variable discount rate forecasting capabilities, as it uses a time-variant structure for the discount rates.

Using the US Case-Shiller and BLS rental indices as a valuation benchmark, the paper contains an example of applying the general TAPA framework to value a notional property under a TAPA’s DCF version. Such property valuations can be easily replicated in practice – especially in the context of equitable/fair value determination under the International Valuation Standards Council valuation standards.

TAPA is a deductive principles-based theory of asset valuation especially fit for the transactional and illiquid asset valuation contexts – thus enabling a more efficient pricing for such assets in a sense of reflecting the transactional interests of the parties more closely than achievable under the conventional valuation methods.

TAPA is an original filiation of research with roots going as far back as Aristotelian Catallactics. It contains analytical formalizations of certain transactional equity principles.