This paper examines the effect of interest rate changes on the performance of listed real estate companies. The motivation for the analysis is based on the idea that interest rate changes are negatively related to a) the relative attractiveness of equities compared to other asset classes such as fixed income or the money market, b) the prices of the underlying properties of the listed real estate companies, and c) the operating performance of listed real estate companies as the costs of debt rise. The analysis is based on monthly data over the 2000 to 2014 period for a global panel of 9 regions. This rich setting offers substantial heterogeneity in interest rates across time and countries. In additional analysis I investigate the effect of interest rates on relative price measures such as the discount or premium to NAV. Furthermore, I account for foreign currency effects by considering both, the perspective of an unhedged US-investor and the perspective of an investor that only makes hedged investments.