Relative Performance of Real Estate Equities and other Selected Stocks. The Nigerian Market Situation

period of stock market crash that spanned 1999 to 2011. Correlation, regression, and Modigliani s 2 M measure were the major tools employed in the evaluation. Real estate stock returns exhibited low correlation with the market index in 1999 to 2007 before the stock market crisis and a high negative correlation in 2008 to 2011 after the stock market crisis. This suggests better performance after the period of stock market crash relative to before the crash period. The result of the regression analysis 2 showed least systematic risk for real estate and inference drawn from the resultant higher M using Modigliani measure is that real estate stock performs better in the post stock market crash period than in the pre stock market crash period. Though 2 there was a crash in the real estate sector, the correlation coefficient and M measure both showed that real estate stock performed better in the post-stock market crash period relative to other stocks. Based on the -0.628 correlation coefficient after the stock market crash, the study recommends that investors should continue subscribing to indirect real estates stocks quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange as an addition to any mixed asset portfolios exhibiting similar characteristics of market index, in order to harness the resultant diversification benefits.