This study extends the earlier REIT empirical work by testing for agency conflicts in
REITs and explores whether ownership structure reduces such conflicts. If advisor REITs are
exposed to greater agency conflicts, the performance of advisor REITs should suffer relative to
self-administered REITs. Additionally, if ownership structure helps align manager and
stockholder interests, advisor REITs with high managerial ownership or high outside ownership
concentration should outperform those with low inside ownership. Finally, if agency problems
embody themselves in expense preference behavior, it should be most prevalent in low ownership
advisor REITs.