Boudry Focuses on Both Research and Teaching

As a faculty member at the School of Hotel Administration, Assistant Professor Wally Boudry puts his energy into both teaching and research. The teaching results speak for themselves, given that he won the 2014-2015 SHA Faculty Teaching Award for the Graduate Core. His research has also been fruitful, as he recently presented a paper exploring the investment characteristics of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) common and preferred stock. Working with colleagues Jan deRoos and Andrey Ukhov, Boudry presented his REIT research at the 2015 NAREIT-AREUEA Real Estate Research Conference. An interview about the topic is posted on REIT.com. The study is called, “Diversification Benefits of REIT Preferred and Common Stock: New Evidence from a Utility Based Framework.”

Boudry’s research examined the diversification benefits of REITs, by exploring the potential usefulness to investors of REIT common stock and REIT preferred stocks. The study found that risk-tolerant investors can use REIT common stocks to create a portfolio with higher returns—but higher accompanying risk. In contrast, investors with a lower risk tolerance find REIT preferred stock useful as a venue for risk reduction in their portfolios. The practical takeaway from the study is that investors, especially those who have a risk tolerance that leads them to make material allocations to fixed income securities, would benefit from introducing REIT preferred stock into their portfolios.

Boudry came to the School of Hotel Administration from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business where he taught real estate courses in both the MBA and undergraduate programs. Prior to that he taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. In addition to detailed examination of REITs, his research interests include real estate capital markets and general finance. His most recent REIT studies have examined their repurchase decisions, dividend payout policy, security issuance decisions, and price dynamics. He has been a regular presenter, session chair, and discussant at the annual AREUEA meetings, and his papers have been published in Real Estate Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, the Journal of Corporate Finance, and the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. He has also coauthored a chapter on REITs in the recently published book Public Real Estate Markets and Investments. A graduate of the University of Queensland, Australia, he earned his MPhil and PhD from New York University.