Out‐of‐town individual investors and asymmetric information: Evidence from the US single‐family residential rental markets
研究发现外地房东比本地房东租金低2.85%，距离越远折扣越大，表明信息不对称导致租赁定价效率低下。
Abstract Do out‐of‐town (OOT) individual investors suffer from asymmetric information in the rental market? Using single‐family residential rental data, we find that OOT landlords charge a 2.85% lower rent than local counterparts, with the discount increasing as the distance between the landlord's address and the property's address increases. Prior local investment experience and stronger social ties mitigate this effect, whereas rental market heterogeneity amplifies it. These findings support that information asymmetry may serve as an underlying mechanism. Our results highlight information friction in real estate rental markets, leading to inefficiencies in rental pricing.