Research News

Valuing Place: New Approaches to Understanding Work, The Workplace and Workspace Investment in a Changing Context

The University of Reading and the Academy of Urbanism gathered at Reading for the 10x10x10 Academy's seminar series. Participants included academics from University of Cambridge, Nottingham Trent University, University of Greenwich and UCL. There were also representatives from private firms and institutions including English Heritage,CABE, Haskoll, Hicks and Baker, Saville and DEGW. The event was organised by Dr Claudia Murray (Real Estate & Planning, University of Reading) and Joost Beunderman (Architecture00:Research). The session was chaired by Professor John Worthington, founder of DEGW and Director of Learning Academy of Urbanism. Presenters included Indy Iohar (Architecture00:Research), Professor Ginny Gibson (Real Estate & Planning, University of Reading) and Professor Colin Lizieri (University of Cambridge). 

More information: Valuing Place: New Approaches to Understanding Work, the Workplace and Workspace Investment in a Changing Context.

 

Postgraduate Studentships in Real Estate & Planning

Professor Patrick McAllister featured in "In Business News"

Following his keynote address at the launch of the new the RICS' Cyprus Property Price Index, Professor Patrick McAllister has been featued in the online publication In Business News. The full feature can be read In Business News, translation available from Pat!

 

Dr Fuerst Presents at RICS Climate Change Series Seminar

Dr Franz Fuerst was invited to present the results of his work with Professor Patrick McAllister (both of REP) at the latest Climate Change seminar run by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - Measuring the Value of Green Commercial Buildings - valuation and occupier perspectives.

Their report, on the effect of eco-labeling on office occupancy rates, has been published in the RICS FIBRE Series and is available on-line.

 

More Prizes for Real Estate & Planning

We are pleased to announce that at the 2009 American Real Estate Society Conference in Monterey, California, Drs Franz Fuerst and Patrick McAllister were awarded the prize for best paper in Sustainable Real Estate for their paper  New Evidence on the Green Building Rent and Price Premium. Franz and Pat won a further prize at the same conference for their paper with Dr Caludia Murray (also of REP)  Designer Buildings: An Evaluation of the Price Impacts of Signature Architects. This prize which was sponsored by NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, was for the best paper on Office Buildings or Office Parks.

At the same conference Professor Colin Lizieri was awarded the 2009 ARES prize for the best paper on International Real Estate Invesment and Portfolio Management for his paper Real Estate Investment in Global Financial Centers: Risk, Return and Contagion. Colin also received the prize for the best paper on Real Estate Market Analysis. The paper, which was written with Patric Hendershott and Bryan MacGregor from the University of Aberdeen, was on Asymmetric Space Adjustment in the London Office Market.

This paper also won the Society of Property Researchers Award for the Best Paper on Real Estate Market Analysis at European Real Estate Society Annual Conference in Stockholm.

Third Lease Code Report Published

Professor Neil Crosby and Cathy Hughes have completed a third report for Communities and Local Government on commercial property leasing, The report is now available on the CLG website and can also be downloaded via the REP Research Reports page. The Report was the subject of a written ministerial statement to the House. This is the latest in a series of research reports that Cathy and Neil have produced for government and, as the statement shows, their research continues to influence policy in this area.

 

New Research Grant for Real Estate & Planning

Doctors Franz Fuerst, Patrick McAllister and Peter Wyatt (all from Real Estate & Planning) have been awarded a research grant from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Education Trust. The grant is to construct a data framework analysing the effects of energy performance certification on commercial real estate values.

 

Best Paper Award

At the recent European Real Estate Society Annual Conference held in Stockholm, Michael Ball, Phil Allmendinger and Cathy Hughes were presented with the RICS Award for the Best Paper on Housing. This was for their paper Housing Supply and Planning Delay in the South of England given at last year's Conference. The paper presented findings of research funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council; it will be published in the next issue of the Journal of European Real Estate Research. 

 

 

Professor David Ling Vists REP

The School of Real Estate & Planning was very pleased to welcome Professor David Ling to our Research Seminar series. David, who is McGurn Professor of Real Estate at the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida and also Visiting Professor in the School of Real Estate & Planning, was invited to present the first Research Seminar in our new Henley Business School building. He presented his paper "Heterogeneous Investors, Negotiation Strength & Asset Prices in Private Markets: Evidence from Commercial Real Estate" (co-author: Milena Petrova) to a full seminar room and the presentation was followed by a lively debate.

 

Reading Real Estate Foundation and Real Estate & Planning's Research Forum

The annual RREF/REP Research Day was held in London this year and kindly hosted by SJ Berwin. Dr Patrick McAllister presented his recent work on rent and price premiums for green buildings and Dr Gianluca Marcato spoke on options and competition in real estate development. The day was rounded off by a discussion chaired by Professor Colin Lizieri focussing on the commercial real estate lending environment and how the market is likely to evolve. The two discussants were Peter Mather of AEW Europe and Joss Brushfield of RBS and we would like to thank them for "volunteering" to take part.

Copies of the presentations and related papers are available via the links below:

Pat McAllister: Green Noise or Green Value

Pat McAllister: Table of Studies

Franz Fuerst and Pat McAllister: New Evidence on the Green Building Rent and Price Premium

Gianluca Marcato: Option and Competition in Real Estate Development

Tommaso Gabrieli and Gianluca Marcato: Real Options and Game Theoretical Approaches to Real Estate Development Projects: Multiple Equilibria and the Implications of Different Tie-Breaking Rules

 

New Research Contract With Pacific Star Europe

Dr Franz Fuerst has recently been awarded a contract with Pacific Star Europe to advise the company on the launch of a new real estate fund of funds. The fund which will be one of the largest of its kind worldwide will allow investors to either spread investments globally in sub-funds across three continents or pursue a more regionally focused strategy depending on individual investment objectives and preferences. In this context, Dr Fuerst will be responsible forthe conceptual and empirical components ofan asset allocation modelwhich takes into account the specific structure of the Pacific Star fund.

 

Nuffield Foundation Funding for Real Estate & Planning

Drs Franz Fuerst, Patrick McAllister and Claudia Murray have been awarded funding from the Nuffield Foundation for a project entitled Designer Buildings: An Evaluation of the Economic Value of Signature Architecture. The initial pilot project intends to investigate whether commercial offices designed by signature architects achieve rental and price premiums compared to commercial offices designed by non-signature architects. The project will examine the economic performance of signature buildings and provide preliminary evidence for a planned future study on the impact of branding architecture and the marketing of urban spaces. The findings of this project will be valuable not only for private companies but also for policy makers in that it contributes to a better understanding of the interaction of design and the built environment on the one hand and the economic/financial processes on the other.

 

Funding for Debate on Real Estate Valuations

The impact of the credit crunch on the housing market has taken most of the headlines but the property market crash has not been restricted to housing. A whole host of different kinds of investors own tenanted commercial property directly or indirectly via units in property funds - many of which have suffered falls in value in excess of 25%. This, and the consequent fall in investment activity has caused particular problems for the valuation profession. The Investment Property Forum has funded Professors Neil Crosby, Colin Lizieri, and Simon Martin and Dr Patrick McAllister, all from the School of Real Estate & Planning, to prepare a valuation issues paper in order to kick start a debate on the role of valuations and on client pressure on valuers for the industry. The IPF membership includes many of the major property investment managers working for financial institutions and property companies and their advisors. 

 

New Research Project for REP

The School of Real Estate & Planning has been awarded a three year research project by Brixton plc, a leading publicly quoted company specialising in industrial and warehouse property. The research will undertake a fundamental analysis of property markets and look at trends and pricing in these markets. It will also include an analysis of the relativity of occupational supply and demand, volatility, obsolescence and covenant risk and diversification. The research team will be led by Professors Andrew Baum and George Matysiak, with support from the School's staff. 

 

The (In)Famous Blundell & Ward Discussion Paper is now available

We are thrilled to announce that the much cited paper by Blundell & Ward is now available in the Real Estate & Planning Working Paper Series This piece of work on the accuracy of valuations has achieved iconic status partly due to the seminal nature of the work and partly because it has never before been available in print. We have been given access to the final version (revised August 1999) and present it with all its original formatting and inaccuracies. We hope it lives up to the many years of hype.....

Neil Crosby to Serve....

Professor Neil Crosby has been invited to serve on the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Valuation Standards Board. The board is responsible for developing and maintaining mandatory real estate valuation standards for the UK and has been highly influential in developing new world wide valuation standards.

 

REP Staff Invited to speak at the Homer Hoyt Institute

Dr Franz Fuerst has been invited to address the 2009 meeting of the Homer Hoyt Institute on the subject of sustainability. He was invited because of his "extensive background, research, and publication in this area". Homer Hoyt are also paying for Dr Pat McAllister to attend the seminar. Franz and Pat also recently won an American Real Estate Society manuscript prize for their paper  "Pricing Sustainability: an Empirical Investigation of the Price Impacts of Environmental Certification of Commercial Real Estate Assets".

 

New Government Research Contract

Professor Neil Crosby and Cathy Hughes have recently been awarded a contract to assess the use of the 2007 Code for Leasing Business Premises on behalf of Communities and Local Government.The aim of the research is to establish how far the Code has disseminated, especially among prospective small business occupiers, and how far parties are aware of its contents and are using it in practice.Sandi Murdoch (formerly of the School of Law) will act as consultant to the project and Claudia Murray is the research officer.

This research follows on from several studies in this area by the research team. Most recently, they completed a two-year study into the UK commercial property leasing market for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; this provided evidence to Government on market flexibility and the impact of the 2002 Code of Practice for Commercial Leases.

 

Housing Supply and Planning Regulation: International Trends

The International Centre for Housing and Urban Economics based at the University Of Reading is holding a one day conference in London looking at international trends on planning regulation and housing supply.

There are growing complaints in many countries that land-use planning restrictions are constraining housing supply. The conference brings together leading economic experts to assess the impact of planning on housing provision in four countries, Australia, England, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and to explore similarities and differences in planning policies and their consequences for housing markets. The Centre was established by Professor Michael Ball from Real Estate & Planning and Professor Geoff Meen from Economics who are hosting the conference, Michael Ball is also presentating a paper on "The discretionary hand: housing supply and planning delay in England".

 

Project for the European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles (INREV)

Dr Franz Fuerst and Professor George Matysiak undertook a project for INREV, the European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles based in Amsterdam.This resulted in a report "Drivers of Fund Performance: A Panel Data Analysis". The aim of the project was to identify the drivers of investment performance for unlisted/private European property funds. The study looked at the annual performance of over 250 funds over the period 2000-2007. It employed panel data techniques, taking account of the key characteristics of private funds, such as gearing, size, style of investment and the distribution of commercial property investments across countries and types of property. The study identified several factors that are statistically significant in accounting for annual investment performance of these funds. Overall, the authors were able to demonstrate their econometric model was able to predict annual returns of unlisted real estate funds with a statistically acceptable margin of error. Country and sector allocation, style, gearing and fund size were found to be important determinants of performance. A summary of the report's findings was included in a quarterly review issued to INREV funds' membership.