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AXP Assignment - Determinants of European listed real estate stock returns

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AXP Assignment - Determinants of European listed real estate stock returns

• Vermogensbeheer
• 36 / 40
• Den Haag
• WO

Are you looking for a challenging graduation assignment or organization where you can do research? PGGM, MN and PGB offer you the opportunity to develop yourself, together with the best professionals in the field.

AXP

This assignment is part of the unique Academic Excellence Program (AXP). This program is a cooperation between MN and PGGM, two leading Dutch pension fund service providers. Students will get the opportunity to work alongside investment professionals, collaborate with other AXP students and learn about institutional investing. On regular AXP-days all students in the program will come together in The Hague or Zeist to share ideas, learn from each other, attend presentations from investment teams and discuss job opportunities.

Jouw rol

MN has a well-established research focus on understanding the performance drivers of listed real estate (LRE) companies, which are a significant component of institutional real estate portfolios. In the LRE sector, total shareholder return is traditionally defined as the sum of a company's Net Asset Value (NAV) return and dividend yield. This conventional approach assumes that NAV return captures value creation at the asset and portfolio level, while dividend yield reflects the income distributed to shareholders. However, it is not clear whether this measure alone sufficiently explains the observed cross-sectional variation in listed real estate stock returns. There is a possibility that alternative firm-level financial and valuation characteristics may offer stronger explanatory power.

Assignment

To explore this, MN intends to develop an empirical framework to assess which financial and valuation factors best explain the cross-sectional differences in stock performance among European listed real estate companies. The analysis will begin with the traditional benchmark-NAV return plus dividend yield-and test it against alternative models. Potential explanatory variables include NAV return, dividend yield, internal rate of return (IRR), earnings growth, momentum, and factors from the Fama and French 3- and 5-factor models. The goal is to determine which combinations of variables have the highest explanatory power for stock returns. The research will rely primarily on empirical analysis using a proprietary dataset of financial metrics covering European listed real estate companies. This dataset includes annual broker financial estimates starting from 2020, as well as Bloomberg fundamental data such as earnings per share (EPS), NAV, and dividends, which offer a longer time horizon. The student conducting the research will be expected to use Python for data analysis.

A key focus of the project will be identifying a robust and economically interpretable model, rather than relying on overly complex econometric techniques. This involves careful variable selection, parsimonious model specification, and ensuring that the results are economically meaningful.

This assignment is particularly well-suited for students with a background in Finance, Economics, or Real Estate who are interested in empirical analysis and capital markets. If the research successfully identifies factors that better explain LRE stock returns than the conventional NAV-return-plus-dividend framework, the insights gained can be used by MN to refine its listed real estate valuation models and improve portfolio construction decisions.

Research

Central question: Which financial and valuation factors best explain the cross-sectional variation in stock returns of European listed real estate companies, and do they outperform the traditional NAV return plus dividend yield model?

Jouw profiel

Note: This is an internship for a master thesis graduation research project.

For these assignments we are looking for ambitious students with:

• Finance background (e.g. Finance, Economics/ Econometrics, Real Estate, etc.);
• Strong communication skills;
• Programming skills in Python.

Jouw werkomgeving

The graduation student will be placed in the European Listed Real Estate team within the Capital Markets department of MN Asset Management. The European Listed Real Estate team is responsible for managing a portfolio of Listed Real Estate stocks (mostly REITs) with exposure to more than 10 different European countries. The team comprises of 2 fund managers, one analyst and the head of the Capital Markets team.

MN als werkgever

MN serves 7 pension fund clients in the areas of Board Advisory, Asset Management, and Fiduciary Management. For our clients we manage pension assets worth approximately EUR 150 billion, that makes MN the third largest pension fund Asset Manager in the Netherlands. About 35.000 companies (employers) in various industries are affiliated with our clients, representing about 2 million pension fund participants in total. We invest globally in equities, government- and corporate bonds, loans, real estate, and private equity, etc.

Als MN'er mag je rekenen op

• A monthly internship allowance;
• Close support from your MN assignment-supervisors;
• Co-operation with the other AXP students;
• Emphasis on work-life balance and flexibility in working hours;
• Numerous opportunities for learning and personal within the AXP program and a calendar filled with social events;
• Hybrid working environment as the default, with a modern office building in the center of The Hague. It is easily accessible by public transport and has in-house facilities for exercise, relaxation or a refreshing coffee from our in-house Barista;
• The 6-months internship should be scheduled within the first half year of 2026. For this assignment the main location will be MN in The Hague.

Contact

We would like to meet you! Click on the apply button and upload your resume and motivation. If you have any questions, please contact Siona van Dijk via . We look forward to receiving your application and welcoming you to MN!