Abstract: By using the data of A-share listed companies from 2006 to 2015, this paper examines the impact of listed companies’ real estate investment on enterprise innovation and its mechanism of action. The findings show that the increase in real estate investment by listed companies will lead to a significant reduction in their innovation investment, technical human resources investment and innovation output, which indicates that real estate investment has a significant inhibitory effect on corporate innovation. Further research has found that compared with non-first-tier cities, the real estate investment of listed companies in first-tier cities has a greater inhibitory effect on innovation investment, technical human resource investment and innovation output; compared with non-state-owned enterprises, the real estate investment of the state-owned enterprises has a smaller inhibitory effect on innovation investment, technical human resource investment and innovation output. The conclusion of the study can provide empirical evidences for the government to introduce differentiated real estate regulatory policies and innovative support policies according to the differences of the regions and the natures of corporate property rights.

Key words: real estate investment; enterprise innovation; regional differences; corporate nature