The Asian REIT industry has evolved significantly since its introduction in Japan in 2001. Asian REITs have provided investors with various benefits including high dividend yields, stable returns, portfolio diversification, improved liquidity, higher transparency and greater access to pan-Asian and global real estate markets. However, their benefits and future development may be clouded by potential agency problems that may arise from their externally managed organisational structure, business-relationships with sponsors and regulatory provisions. This thesis aims to investigate whether Asian REITs suffer from agency problems and examine the role of corporate governance in mitigating these problems. The impacts of corporate governance on Asian REIT performance and valuation are also analysed in this thesis. The analyses of this thesis are based on the four largest REIT markets in Asia, namely Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. The results show that REITs with stronger corporate governance and investor protection are associated with higher firm valuation and better perfonnance. This thesis also provides evidence that some Asian REITs suffer from overinvestment. Nevertheless, the degree of over investment is reduced when REITs have strong corporate governance mechanisms in place. The findings further reveal that business-relationships with sponsors do not lead to expropriation of minority unit holders' wealth when investor protection is weak. Moreover, an increase in sponsor ownership does not incentivise sponsors to entrench themselves. In fact, sponsors are able to provide REITs with a wide range of support when they have equity stakes in the REIT. Overall, this thesis highlights the significance of corporate governance in mitigating the agency problems and improving Asian REIT performance and valuation.