Over the past thirty years there has been an ongoing debate on the implications of
managerial discretion for the profitability of the firm. The issue has not been previously explored
within the Real Estate Investment Trust industry, except in analysis that is not relevant to the
typical current form of organization. Furthermore, the recent growth in REITs as a real asset
financing vehicle and as an investment vehicle for institutional investors has created increased
interest in agency costs within REITs and in the proper organizational form they should take to
reduce them. Since 1992, most existing REITs and nearly all new REITs have chosen a selfadministered
form. One view held in the popular financial press is that greater agency conflicts in
advisor REITs have made self-administration the preferred form.