Pandemic Risk Exposure: Impacts of COVID-19 Virus on Real Estate Investments

The pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has severely impacted the real estate industry. The research investigates the relationship between the spread of the virus and REITs performances in Europe, considering the role played by localization and diversification of properties in the real estate portfolios. The results show that Covid-19 had heterogeneous impacts depending on property types. Moreover, risks associated to Covid-19 may be described by synthetic indexes that represent the degree of vulnerability of economic activities carried out in the real estates.