The course uses the financial tools the students have used during their undergraduate studies so as to properly assess the potential alternatives of various financial tools for investments in real estate (mortgages, leasing etc), This course also offers fresh knowledge on how rents can be determined (especially in commercial real estate), as well as it describes the available methods that evaluate the fair and correct price of a real estate unit. Finally, the course offers some special methodologies suitable for specific classes of real estate, such as distressed buildings. The above knowledge is expected to offer to students the necessary tools that will help them to form their professional career status in the real estate sector.

Main Bibliography

Brueggeman, W. B. and Fisher, J. D. (2005) Real Estate Finance & Investments (12^th Edition), New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Other Bibliography

Clauretie T. and Sirmans G. S. (2006) Real Estate Finance: Theory and Practice, Thomson, South-Western, Australia.

Green, R. and S. Malpezzi (2004) ‘U.S. Housing Markets and Housing Policy, Urban Institute Press.

Ling, D. C. and Archer, W. R.  (2010) Real Estate Principles: A Value Approach (3^rd Edition), McGraw-Hill, Irwin.

Linneman, P. (2004) ‘Real Estate Finance & Investments: Risks and Opportunities (2^nd Edition), Philadelphia: Linneman Associates.

Di Pasquale, D. and Wheaton, W. (1996) Real Estate Markets, Prentice Hall.

Syllabus

• TYPES OF MORTGAGE LOANS
• OTHER FINANCIAL METHODS IN REAL ESTATE
• TYPES OF REAL ESTATE UNITS
• REAL ESTATE PRICES-DETERMINATION AND METHODS OF PRICE EVALUATION
• METHODS OF RENTS DETERMINATION
• METHODS OF OPERATIONAL EXPENSES DISTRIBUTION ACROSS TENANTS OR BETWEEN TENANTS AND OWNERS
• INVESTMENT DECISIONS IN SPECIAL TYPES OF REAL ESTATE UNITS (DISTRESSED BUILDINGS)
• REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO DECISIONS

Written Essay Topics

• Real estate taxation
• Residential investment and interest rates: Their role for land development
• The role of real estate portfolios in capital market investments
• The role of leverage in real estate investments
• Factors explaining rent levels
• The role of economic and demographic factors in explaining deficiency risk
• Housing renovations: Does the type of real estate matters?
• House prices and bubbles
• Monetary shocks and real estate prices/returns
• Fiscal deficits and house prices
• The role of inflation in the house price process
• Does consumption respond more to housing wealth than to financial wealth?
• The role of the CAPM model for real estate prices and returns.
• The association between real estate prices and stock prices
• Factors of location choices
• How the credit channel affects real estate prices
• The effectiveness of rent control
• The role of labor mobility in real estate prices