Dr Yu-Cheng Lin

Dr Yu-Cheng (Robbie) Lin is a real estate economist and holds a PhD in real estate investment and finance. He has research expertise in global capital markets, multi-asset portfolio construction, global real estate markets and forecasting, with a unique blend of academic and industry experience.

Robbie's research has a Proven Record:
1. Forecasting 2022/2023 global rising interest rate environment;
2. Assessing Impacts of US monetary policy (10Y bonds, 3m rates, term spread) on multiple types (office, retail, industrial, logistics, multifamily (BtR), healthcare, hotel, data centre and infrastructure) of US, European and APAC commercial real estate markets via interest rate sensitivity analysis;
3. Forecasting investment hotspots of logistics, office and multifamily (BtR) sectors across the US, EU and APAC via multi-asset portfolio optimization analysis on commercial real estate by sector.

Robbie's commentaries and thoughts on 2022/2023 global rising interest rate environment (times and magnitudes of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, BOE, ECB and RBA) and interest rate risk management strategies of commercial real estate by sector were shared with Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) by Sep and Oct 2021.

Robbie's research agenda is highly connected to the commercial real estate (CRE) industry and features a high level of real estate market awareness, with a strong Asia-Pacific and US focus. This has covered the assessment of the added-value and strategic role of multiple real estate sectors of REITs, unlisted real estate funds, direct real estate (e.g. office, retail, industrial and logistics, multifamily (BtR), healthcare, hotel, infrastructure, data centre sectors) in institutional investors' multi-asset portfolios (e.g. PE funds, insurers, pension funds, SWFs), as well as varying interest rate sensitivity of multiple real estate sectors of REITs across the USA, Japan, Australia and Singapore. The interest rate sensitivity analyses on multiple real estate sectors of REITs are particularly important for investors' and lenders' understanding of interest rate risk management for multiple real estate sectors in local and international investment portfolios, given the growth of refinancing capitals and newly troubled loans during the COVID pandemic. 

The significance and practical use of his PhD program have been externally validated by four SSCI real estate journal articles (as primary author), seven major international real estate conference papers and six media articles for the UK online real estate magazine-The Property Chronicle (https://www.propertychronicle.com/author/robbie-lin). These journal articles include (1) Varying interest rate sensitivity of multiple real estate sectors of REITs in the Pacific Rim region (2021); (2) Strong performance of Logistics in the Pacific Rim region (2020); (3) Strong performance of multifamily (BtR) sector in Japan (residential J-REITs) (2019); and (4) Strong performance of multiple real estate sectors of REITs in Australia (2019). In addition, several media articles include (1) Impacts of US monetary policy (10Y, 3m, term spread) on Pacific Rim Commercial Real Estate; (2) Strong performance by Logistics; (3) How can China learn from the global REITs by sector; (4) Dynamics of Pacific Rim office sector; (5) Why specialized real estate is a better investment strategy; (6) Performance of international Build-to-Rent (BtR). 

In particular, multiple sectors (e.g. office, retail, industrial and logistics, multifamily (BTR), healthcare, hotel, infrastructure, data centre sectors) of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly country- and regional-based REIT indices across the US, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea were constructed and utilized in his PhD program, offering a fuller understanding of market fundamentals and dynamic risk-return attributes of multiple real estate types of REIT portfolios across the APAC and US from multi-dimensional investment perspectives - both investment performance and risk management dimensions. These publications offer insightful investment initiatives in multiple CRE sectors across the US and APAC are a strong testament to forecasting international CRE market trends.

His doctoral thesis was awarded by 2021 Doctoral Program Manuscript Prize Winner from the American Real Estate Society (ARES).