AREUEA 2025 Junior Scholar Program Participant Information

Yifan Chen

Bio

Yifan Chen is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Real Estate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her research interests lie in real estate finance and commercial real estate. She earned her Ph.D. in Real Estate from Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Chen’s work has been published in academic journals such as Real Estate Economics, the Journal of Regional Science, and Economic Modelling. She also serves as a referee for various journals, including Real Estate Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and the Journal of Corporate Finance. She was awarded Summer Economics Fellowship from the American Economic Association in 2019 and the Trepp CRE Future Leader Award in 2022.

Summary of Project(s)

The Writing on the Maturity Wall: Commercial Real Estate Performance and Rollover Risk: a collaboration with @chenjiakai. We document a causal link between rising refinancing costs and deteriorating commercial real estate performance. Properties facing imminent loan rollovers experience sharper declines in net operating income and occupancy rates, particularly those with higher rollover risk—characterized by elevated loan-to-value ratios and lower debt service coverage ratios. Our analysis further reveals that properties with elevated refinancing costs curtail investment following tenant turnover, particularly as they approach maturity, because sales under rollover risk lead to significant price discounts. Our evidence suggests that debt overhang under rollover risk is a key mechanism driving commercial real estate underperformance.

Twitter Handle

@Yifan_UHManoa

Yifan Chen's Personal Website