Smoothing in Appraisal-Based Returns

This article presents a conceptual analysis of smoothing in the second moments of appraisal-based returns series in commercial real estate. The intent of the article is to lay the groundwork necessary for the more scientific use of appraisal-based returns time series for the purpose of inferring the true second moments. Formal smoothing models are presented together with their theoretical implications for smoothing in various second moments of interest to investment analysts. Empirical estimators for inferring true moments from appraisal-based data are described. Limited empirical findings from previous literature are also briefly discussed in the light of the theoretical findings of this study. The overall conclusion is that appraisal-based returns can be very useful in studying the risk characteristics of commercial real estate assets, provided that this type of data is corrected for smoothing as discussed in the article.