Shariah property investment in Asia

Islamic banking and finance is growing at a rapid pace because of its value-oriented ethos. Through interviews with Shariah-compliant property investment players in Singapore, Bahrain, and Dubai, this research is a sequel to Parsa and McIntosh (2005), which looks at the trends and the development of an international strategy for Shariah-compliant property investment. The findings reveal that more than 95% of the respondents felt that "compliance with Shariah law is a fundamental requirement in terms of "halal" type of investment and investment structure." More than 75% of the respondents preferred to use the ijara/ijara-wa-iqtina and sukuk method of financing Shariah-compliant property investment. Seventy-eight percent of the respondents felt that Southeast Asia has the highest potential in Asia in attracting Shariah-compliant property investment. Together with the findings of Parsa and McIntosh (2005), this study extends the insights to the world of Shariah property investment

The idiosyncratic risks of a Shariah compliant REIT investor

This paper investigates the impact of Shariah compliant investment principles on the idiosyncratic risks of a Shariah compliant REIT investor. The importance of idiosyncratic risks in explaining cross-sectional returns of a constructed Shariah compliant REIT investor's portfolio is further examined in this paper. In all constructed portfolios examined, there is a positive and significant relationship between expected idiosyncratic volatility and expected REIT returns of the constructed Shariah compliant portfolio (GCC Shariah compliance standards). This result is consistent and persistent after robustness tests are carried out. As such, idiosyncratic risks are an important factor to consider in the pricing of Shariah compliant REIT stock returns. On further examination, the significant relationship as seen in the constructed Shariah compliant portfolio can be explained from the firm-specific risks of the residential REIT sector which is the most dominant sector during the period of investigation. The implications of these results also point to the importance of Shariah compliance standards and screening methods which is a significant feature associated with the understanding of the relationship of idiosyncratic risks on expected REIT returns of Shariah portfolios. Results show contrasting results between a less-restrictive and restrictive Shariah compliant portfolio. We find a significant relationship between expected returns and the idiosyncratic risks specifically in the restrictive Shariah compliant portfolio

Asset value enhancement of Singapore's public housing main upgrading programme (MUP) policy: A real option analysis approach

10.1177/0042098009342451Urban Studies46112329-236