Whether advisor REITs suffer greater agency problems is a matter for empirical
investigation. Since 1987 the old-style advisor REITs have continued to exist along with the
newer self-administered REITs. The co-existence of these two organizational forms provides an
ideal setting for testing the impact of potential agency problems on REIT performance and
management compensation. This study focuses attention first on performance differences and
then whether ownership structure affects performance and manager compensation in the two
REIT forms. The results of the study indicate that over the period 1987 through 1992 selfadministered
REITs outperform advisor REITs and advisor REIT performance depends on
ownership structure. However, managerial compensation in both advisor and self-administered
firms does not appear to be strongly influenced by either ownership structure or stock market
performance. One exception is self-administered REIT chief executive officer compensation
which is positively influenced by REIT stock returns.