In 2009 ICME has carried out a Internet-based study of selected Corporates and Industry Experts. We interviewed a panel of 50 Corporates, thereof 30 DAX and 20 foreign companies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Moreover, we met with 12 Real Estate Industry Experts (Top Managers, Service Providers, Professors, Management Consultants) to discuss the impacts of the 2009 crisis on the practices of Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM). In detail, our Study has focussed on the following themes: 1) Which impact had the crisis on the CREM industry? 2) Which actions have been put in place to counteract or minimize this impact? 3) Which of these actions will have a long-term positive effect for the Corporates and ñspecifically- for the CREM business units? 4) Which are the future requirement for Corporate Real Estate Managers? // Our study has the following structure: 1) Introduction; 2) The Crisis Year: 2009; a) Initial Situation; b) Impacts on Corporates and CREM; c) Goals of CREM during the crisis; 3) Areas of Actions and Objectives pursued; a) The lessons of 20; b) The steps for 2010// 5) Recommendation for 2010 and beyond. // The final results focus on the major areas of actions that Corporate Real Estate Managers have put in place to navigate through the crisis to ensure the achievement of their strategic and operative objectives. These actions refer to the following management areas: 1.Service Provider & Partner Strategies; 2. Procurement Strategy & Outsourcing; 3. Space Planning & Optimization; 4. Building Management & Transparency; 5. Process Optimization; 6. HR Management; 7. Liquidity; 8. Procurement Optimization; 9. Energy Management. Crisis of 2009 Impact on Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) Repair and Maintenance Service Provider And Partner Strategies Procurement Strategy and Outsourcing Space Planning and Optimization Building Management & Transparency Process Optimization HR Management Liquidity Procurement Optimization Energy Management.

The present crisis in home mortgage loan defaults in the US has some parallels in various EU member countries. However, the EU countries, by and large, have avoided the worst of the US problems. Depending on the countries observed, the European nations seem to be doing a better job in this critical area, due to different, often much narrower, sources of home loans, tougher standards for offering these loans, and differences in the functionning of the secondary markets for home loans. Moreover, in countries where mortgage defaults have risen and the problem is thus more severe, there is again variation in the measures that have been taken to protect homeowners, and their relative success.

The aim of this paper is to explore the linkages between corporate real estate, human resource management and business performance. Developing corporate real estate strategies in the current business environment has become an even more complex task. The implementation of flexible working, and the corresponding changes to HR practices, highlights the increasing importance of establishing the right amount and type of organisational space. One clear issue developing is the need to understand the changing demographic trend. The possibility that four different generations could be working in the same office at the same time means that CRE solutions must allow Multigenerational working. The office environment must not only enhance productivity must also provide environments that facilitate health and wellbeing. Creating office environments that are both productive and also supportive of physical and mental health requires that the occupier perspective is established. This means that the linkages between the people and their workplace need to be made through the application of techniques from Environmental Psychology. A number of themes will be identified throughout this paper. These will include the relationship between corporate real estate strategy and human resource strategy, organisational culture, changing demographics and the how office space can used to enhance organisational performance through the use of Environmental Psychology.

System dynamics is a research approach which allows to model the behavior of political, social, economic systems. Compared to traditional approaches it allows not only to present main characteristics of selected system, its essential elements but also enables to verify how the mentioned system changes over time. Due to unquestionable advantages of system dynamics modeling it becomes a popular simulation tool of economic processes. The paper presents a possible application of system dynamics in real estate market analysis. Model of residential market and selected scenarios of its behavior are also provided.

The Lowland Gorilla, the Iberian Lynx and the ëCeltic Tigerí share commonalities, they are all endangered species. Between 1995 and 2007 Irelands ëCeltic Tigerí economy experienced unprecedented levels of growth and was widely acclaimed as an exemplar of innovation and adaptation to economic globalisation. The expansion in National income and personal consumption aided by comparatively cheap and readily accessible debt, fuelled a real estate boom in both the commercial and residential property markets. In the 10 year period January 1998 to the market peak in January 2007 the average house price in Ireland had risen Ä216,533 or 129% (ESRI, 2007). In the commercial property market figures compiled by IPD demonstrate a sharp rise in capital growth across all three sectors in the period 2002-2007, which culminating in several consecutive years of double digit returns (IPD, 2008). In the midst of the boom cycle, the construction sector in Ireland experienced massive expansion, accounting for of 22% of GNP and 12% of employment in the economy by the end of 2006 (CSO, 2007). The growth within the construction sector was symbolic of the shift towards a more indigenously based economy driven by internal consumption. The financial crisis of 2007 and ensuing global recession exposed the fragility of Irelandís ëeconomic miracleí. Built on debt, with a banking industry massively over exposed to real estate, the Irish economy has ground to a shuddering halt. The dramatic downturn in real estate values both nationally and internationally has had a profound effect on the balance sheets of Irish banks, and undermined their commercial viability. Anglo Irish Bank has been nationalised, whilst both Allied Irish Bank (AIB) and Bank of Ireland have received substantive bailout packages from the Irish Government. The capital injection was a necessary first step to restoring a degree of functionality to the Irish banking industry. The next phase in preserving the banking sector will involve the transfer of property and property related loans into a National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) ñ a bespoke investment vehicle developed to cleanse the balance sheets of Irish Banks and remove uncertainty surrounding their toxic liabilities. Provisional estimates suggest property and associated loans transferred to NAMA will equate to circa Ä77.1 bn globally, whilst the majority of loans are secured against Irish domiciled assets (Ä 51.4 bn), Ä23 bn of loans have been secured against land and property assets across a number of European jurisdictions including the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Czech Republic. The paper presents a series of ìwork outî options for NAMA highlighting potential implications for European real estate markets given the geographic diversity of land and property assets over which NAMA will assume control. The paper will develop a model based on Fisherís Separation Theorem to examine the variance and inequality between outstanding debt obligations relative to underlying collateral value which is fundamental to the outworking of assets overtime. The paper emphasises the importance of sustaining an income stream over the lifetime of the vehicle and the need for strategic release of assets in order to prevent incessant downward pressures on property market values.

The paper examines the pricing of real estate equities listed in European capital markets from 1983 to 2009. While US equity and listed real estate markets have been thoroughly examined using diverse pricing models, European real estate capital markets have not been scrutinized to a similar extend. The paper aims at filling this gap and provides out-of-sample evidence on the pricing of listed real estate companies. Due to the assumptions of normally distributed returns and increasing absolute risk aversion, the traditional CAPM is not appropriate for real estate asset pricing. Therefore, the paper seeks to develop a conditional asset pricing model for European listed real estate companies by examining HML, SMB and higher comoments in addition to the common market factor. The Fama & French factors are calculated for European stock markets and used to capture the cross-sectional variation in average property stock returns. Since non-normality is a common feature in real estate stock returns, the coskewness and cokurtosis are included in the asset pricing model. Furthermore, it accounts for a relationship between the risk factors and asset returns that is conditional on market phases. Therefore, the asset pricing test is performed conditional on whether the excess market return is positive or negative, assuming an inverse relationship in periods with negative excess market returns. The paper moreover scrutinizes whether the inclusion of higher comoments into the Fama & French Three-Factor model increases the explanatory power or whether the additional risk factors proxy for HML or SMB.

Real estate and commercial property are important to the economy. Commercial property industry, a sector which not only makes up a major part of the UK economy itself, but also provides a platform for virtually all of the countryís other major industries. It is a sector which plays a crucial role by providing places in which people can work, shop and enjoy leisure activities. Larger than the banking, leisure, communications and transport sectors, commercial property is also a significant investment asset for the pensions industry and so contributes to the financing of our retirement. Commercial propertyís value in 2008 was over £500 billion, slightly below that of UK government bonds, and comparable to the countryís stock of plant, machinery and vehicles, making it an extremely important factor of production. Its value is about half that of UK equities. The value of the commercial property stock fell by around 24% in 2008, compared to the 33% decline in the value of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (IPF, 2009). The number of ëgeneral practiceí graduates from RICS accredited courses is significantly high. It has the second highest number of graduates and students starters by professional groups apart from Quantity Surveyors and Construction. In 2008, it accounted total 1787 graduates and 2293 student starters, while 892 and 1162 respectively are postgraduate students. The total ëgeneral practiceí graduate and student starters constitute 35% and 24% across the fourteen major RICS professional groups (RICS, 2009). Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) accredited postgraduate courses have become the major supplier for future surveyors in the UK now. The number of new students on this type of course was 5156 in 2008 as compared to 419 in 2000. The number of postgraduate students studying RICS accredited postgraduate degree courses as a percentage of the whole population of new students increased from 13% in 2000 to 55% in 2008. The number of the UK RICS accredited postgraduate courses is substantially more than the RICS accredited undergraduate courses since 2004. In 2009, there were 235 postgraduate courses as compared with only 127 undergraduate courses in the UK, while there were 335 postgraduate courses as compared to 214 undergraduate courses worldwide (RICS, 2009). The global recession has hit the world economy hard. The real estate market has also suffered and it has also affected the labour market for real estate professionals. Many real estate professionals have been made redundant or have taken on extra or different responsibilities in order to keep their employment. In these circumstances, it may be that only sufficiently skilled real estate staff still remain in full-time employment. In addition, as the number of graduates from the RICS accredited postgraduate conversion courses substantially increased in the last decade, meant that there are more graduates who enter the surveying profession through this route. There have been several research studies aimed at investigating industryís expectation of built environment graduates and essential reform of built environment courses across the world. Davies, Csete and Poon (1999) and Wong, Wong and Hui (2007) conducted research to investigate the employersí expectations of construction and surveying undergraduates in Hong Kong. Massyn, Mosime and Smallwood (2009) conducted research to investigate whether construction management graduates in South Africa have the competencies that the industry need. As with Davies et. al. (1999) and Wong et. al. (2007)'s research, it is also quantitative-natured research. The data was collected through a questionnaire survey which was sent out to contractors registered at Level 9 on the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) register in South Africa. Hoxley and Wilkinson conducted RICS Education Trust funded research investigating the impact of the 2001 education reform on building surveying. The targeted respondents for their research were course leaders for building surveying undergraduate courses in the UK. The responses were gathered through a questionnaire survey and a focus group meeting with the large national, mainly London-based, employers of building surveyors. Research in this topic has been conducted in various countries over the last two decades. The previous research mainly focused on studying the competencies requirements for graduates of undergraduate surveying courses. There is also lack of research studying competencies of surveying graduates in the UK. These has been one piece of research of in the UK with a building surveying focus, but, the skills, knowledge and competenciesí requirement of UK real estate graduates has not yet been investigated. This paper aims to fill the gap of previous research. This paper aims to examine the critical factors and essential elements for real estate courses in the UK.

The paper will discusses the use, logic and the theoretical issues underpinning the definitions of housing market areas (HMAs) and their relationships with labour market areas. Drawing on this understanding, the empirical research generates sets of different potential geographies of HMAs for England based on an algorithm that applies a range of criteria linked to the degree of closure of migration and commuting patterns. Based on a range of criteria/tests the different geographies are assessed. In particular standardised house prices in neighbouring HMAs are tested to assess whether they are different using hedonic multiple regressions and a Chow test to see if they generate statistically different coefficients. Finally conclusions are drawn on these relationships. The empirical work is on England and the datasets drawn from the Population Census and the Land Registry.

The sites of municipal solid waste dumps are replete in and around our cities and towns in Nigeria. Real estate development and market is highly dependent on perception, environment and economic situations, especially for residential and commercial properties. Prospective tenants and investors tend to be weary of the environmental quality of proposed investment sites or residential neighborhood if it will fetch good return on their investment and how long. This paper will critically examine effect of municipal solid waste dumps on investment property values and proffer useful solutions to perspective property investors and tenants.

Housing is one of basic necessities of life. Housing transcends physical shelter but determines even social, physical and psychological well being of man. Housing development is a critical aspect of provision of shelter as it involves a chain of processes and commitment from site acquisition to construction and final occupation or disposal. The professionals in the built environment especially the estate surveyors and valuers and town planners are indispensable in the process; in areas of economic viability, location, feasibility, orientation, maintenance to keep such development in line with statute, relevant standards, present day realities and technology. This paper will exam the roles expected of estate surveyors and valuers and town planners by their professional training and the implications of these on an emerging mega city project.

This case study illustrates the ëinspirational learningí project at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), as applied to the Development Practice module on the final year of the BSc (Hons) Real Estate Development. In particular, it examines and assesses the application of information and communication technology (ICT) to learning, teaching and assessment, the impact on student engagement and performance and the module delivery considerations for staff. The module outline includes the following introduction: ìDevelopment surveyors are involved at all stages in the development process, from the inception of development projects to their completion. In addition to contributing their own specialist knowledge and skills to this process, they work closely with other specialists, as part of multi-disciplinary project teams. This module provides an opportunity to rehearse this development process, and the role of the development surveyor, using project work based on real-life development opportunities.î This module consists of both group work and individual work and makes use of a wide variety of information and communication technologies to motivate and inspire students. These include video production technology; Web 2.0 applications (e.g. Delicious and Twitter); computer aided design; and, development appraisal software (e.g. Argus Developer and Monte Carlo Risk Analysis). The teaching and assessment is supported by a virtual learning environment (i.e. Blackboard) and by the use of a spreadsheet-based marking schema, now widely used throughout SHU. An analysis of the effectiveness and efficiency of this approach will be based on tutor experience, student feedback studies and external examiner responses. Examples of student videos will be presented for comment and discussion.

China's National Bureau of Statistics said that the annual growth of housing price reached 24% in 2009 after the financial tsunami. Is it a recovery or a bubble? What makes the housing price increasing so quickly? Price-to-Income Ratio is by far the commonest measurement method to housing affordability. And the relatively high housing price-to-income ratio in Asian cities, especially in Mainland China has been aroused many researchers' attention. In this research, the writer use panel regression based on monthly data from 2005 to 2009 of Mainland China cities, to analyze the driving factors of housing price-to-income ratio and also housing price and household income separately. And the test results suggest that the housing price boom might lead to a bubble.

The changes in the university system have led to a larger proportion of students in higher education. As a result, the range of abilities in classes is now considerable and variable. Students are now more diverse in age, experience, cultural background and even their motivation for study. Biggs (1999) argues that an increasing proportion of students will not be at university because of their love of a subject but in order to obtain a qualification for their future career. The teaching and learning environment will have to change in order to response to these challenges. Different teaching methods occur which aim to encourage studentsí engagement and devise related learning activities. Economics is one of the subjects which is often branded as 'boring' and 'theoretical'. The traditional 'chalk and talk' approach for teaching macro-economics is criticized for running the risk of being divorced from the needs and practise of practitioners in the 'field' (Becker, 2000). Becker (2000) draws the similar pessimistic conclusion for microeconomics and argues that textbook discussions of markets are often hypothetical and unconnected with observed phenomena. The textbooks describe 'fairytale' or 'perfect competition' conditions rather than the situations which actually exist. Teaching economics for 'non-specialist' learners imposes even bigger challenges as students usually exhibit varying degrees of commitment to the subject and various pre-requisite knowledge of the relevant principles. In addition, non-specialists are more likely to experience difficulties with the method of economics, particularly in relating abstract concepts, diagrams and models to real world economics issues and problems (Forsythe, 2002). The aim of this paper is to discuss a new approach to teaching the 'Property and Construction Economics' module. This module is an Undergraduate Year One module for students in the Property Management and Development cohort in the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment in the Nottingham Trent University. The module is about the application of economic theory to explain the operation of property and construction markets. It is different from more traditional approaches to teaching economics, which tend to be theory-based. The issue-based and problem-based learning approach has been adopted to teach Property and Construction Economics in the current academic year (Garratt and Taylor, 2004 and Forsythe, 2002). In addition it is taught in a blended learning approach and with support from a virtual learning environment, the Nottingham Trent University Online Workstation (NOW). This paper will discuss the design of the new approach for teaching Property and Construction Economics. It also discusses the tutor's reflection on using the new teaching approach. Furthermore, evaluation feedback from students on their learning experience will also be included. Finally, recommendations for future changes to the approach of teaching the module will be made.

Recent euphoria surrounding housing markets has aroused a vast outpouring of learned and popular literature. The boom and bust cycle which characterised housing markets in most advanced economies over the last decade has had a profound and significant effect on the operational mechanics of housing provision. Indeed, this evident dysfunctionality within housing systems has resulted in affordability issues surfacing as a fundamental intrametropolitan issue. Affordability materialises in many forms and guises, fuelling the debate of how to best conceptualise and measure housing affordability. Accelerating house prices nurtured the affordability debate during the boom years, however, in more recent times, the events of the sub prime mortgage market and subsequent subsidence in the housing market has dominated affordability concerns. Indeed, this malignant financial environment has emerged as the primary barrier, deteriorating affordability for those on lower incomes or in marginalised positions. This paper examines the salient drivers which serve to contextualise the disequilibrium within the residential housing market in Northern Ireland. It further proceeds to conceptualise and measure affordability. In order to achieve this, the paper presents a hierarchical framework which disseminates the indicators identified as most important for modelling affordability. The paper applies a Delphi-based methodological paradigm to rank salient indicators identified in the framework, using an eclectic range of key property market experts. An upper quartile method is subsequently applied culminating in the production of a leading catalogue of indicators specific to affordability. Indeed, this composite approach is employed as it captures a host of demand and supply side variables and offers an enhanced analytical platform for modelling affordability than other traditional ratio techniques. The upper quartile set of indicators are applied at the Northern Ireland level using regional and national data-sets which are firstly analysed for key trends, and secondly analysed using correlation analysis to capture the synergies residing between the indicators. Indeed, this in an attempt to drill down and distill the associated relationships and movement of the significant indicators of affordability. Principal component analysis is applied to establish whether the indicators can be reduced down to an underlying dimension of affordability. From this, the extracted components serve as predictors in a multiple regression analysis, which culminates in the formulation of a weighted affordability index for the Northern Ireland jurisdiction. Conclusions are then drawn, which advocate for a reform in monetary and housing policy and discourse.

The shift in regulated financial markets and global economies induced by globalisation has had significant impacts on housing in many cities of the world. This feat was largely assisted by de-regulation within the banking sector which affected manoeuvrings in the housing finance system, making mortgage finance readily obtainable through the end of credit rationing. As a result, the flow of funds into the property sector via liberalised lending policies and subsequent competition within the mortgage market has simultaneously introduced increased demand for housing products as housing wealth has become more liquid. Importantly, the advent of finance streams resulted in the demutualisation of financial institutions, resulting in improved mortgage liquidity and an increase in gearing rates in the marketplace, leaving mortgage rates dependent on interest rates. This dependency heightened the sensitivity of the housing market to macroeconomic fluctuations on debt and consumption (Kasparova and White, 2001) and introduced an era of destabilisation. Furthermore, it could be argued that this has served as an underlying driver of house price inflation. The demise of global money markets post-financial crisis has curtailed inter-bank lending and borrowing creating a tepid mortgage lending environment. As banks strive to rebuild their balance sheets the contraction in mortgage lending has had a profound impact upon access to the property market, most notably within the first-time buyer cohort. The constrained availability of mortgage finance and subsequent reduction of loan-to-value ratios has manufactured an impasse in housing market activity as mortgage providers with limited credit supply have adopted an overtly conservative approach to their lending capacity and strategy. This paper explores the current position relating to the availability of mortgage finance within Northern Ireland. The research will examine the range of mortgage products currently available, the criteria being applied by lending institutions to prospective purchasers. The dynamics of the mortgage market will also be explored, including an examination of long run trends relating to mortgage approval rates and relative affordability indicators. Comparatives between the Northern Ireland market and the wider UK will be drawn.

This research assesses the role of European property securities traded in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States in domestic mixed-asset and international investment portfolios over a 10-year period, 1999-2009. This is an extension of the study conducted by Newell (2003) for the European property companies over 1993-2002. While Newell (2003) uses EPRA property stock series and MSCI common stock series, this study extracts both common stock and property securities data from a single source, i.e. S&P BMI (for common stock) and S&P Property (for property securities). By comparing the risk-adjusted performances and correlation profiles of different asset types (i.e. common stocks, property securities, bonds and cash), the objective is to assess whether European property securities enhance portfolio performance. In addition, local and U.S dollars are used to examine whether currency has negated the diversification benefits over the study period. This research spans over a 10-year period beginning from May 1999 to April 2009. In order to assess the stability of correlations during varying market conditions, two sub-periods from 1999 to 2004 and 2004 to 2009 are also adopted in the research. The findings show that most of the European and U.S real estate securities have outperformed the other asset classes over the entire study period. However, it is noted that the risk-adjusted performance of the property securities is not ideal when compared to cash and bonds. Most of the European real estate securities tend to have more superior risk-adjusted performance than common equities in the long-run. Unlike the correlations of property securities with cash and bonds, the correlations of the real estate securities and common stocks have grown stronger in the second sub-period as compared to the first sub-period. This is likely due to the higher inter-regional correlation caused by the sub-prime crisis. As such, diversification benefits of property securities in the domestic mixed-asset portfolios have been greatly reduced. The results have also shown that despite the increasing global financial market integration, the European real estate securities can still offer international diversification benefits, even though the diversification benefits of property stocks during the period of high market volatility are not pronounced.

This paper revisits the three classical approaches of real estate appraisal: cost summation, income capitalization and market price comparison. It brings a different perspective of analyzing these three methods and shows the importance of using them concurrently in order to better estimate market value of a certain catogory of property. It also revisits classical supply and demand model of economic analysis.

Our paper describes the results of a Social Return on Investment (SROI)analysis of four new housing projects in Germany. A common characteristic of all projects is the central importance of mutual neighborly support to meet the demand for assistance of older residents. All projects share some common architectural features and infrastructural characteristics. Furthermore, in each housing project some form of support by social workers takes place. Using a propensity score matching approach, we compare for the first time systematically the costs for support of older people in mutual support based housing projects with a control group of people living in conventional settings. Our results, based on a sample of more than 700 residents, point not only to improvements in living satisfaction, but indicate also a huge potential for socio-economic cost savings. This can partly be explained by better development of residentsí health status.

The institutionalized policy of apartheid in South Africa during the period 1948 to 1994 created not only segregation based upon race, but also inequalities and inefficiencies in terms of access to economic opportunities. The policy of separate development followed by the pre-1994 Government in South Africa meant that white and black people could not live in the same areas together. As black people were also denied access to resources, one the resulting effects of the policy of apartheid was that white people were able to live in suburban areas whereas black people had to live in designated townships away from white suburban areas. The post-1994 democratic dispensation in South Africa has ensured that people of any colour may live where they wish to, but the fact is that many black people who were denied access to economic opportunities during the days of apartheid, do not have the resources to move into suburbs that were formerly exclusively inhabited by white people. The Government has introduced a policy known as Inclusionary Housing Policy (IHP) in order to try and reverse some of the economic effects of apartheid. In terms of the IHP, private sector developers will in future have to provide a certain number of housing units in new developments for affordable housing purposes. According to the policy, this should ensure integration of different socio-economic groups and allow people to live in suburban areas who were previously denied this opportunity because of their race. South Africa still has significant income disparities between white and black people. The implementation of a policy like IHP may encounter significant problems in that people of different economic groupings may not wish to live together. Although other countries have implemented their own version of South Africaís IHP, the eventual outcomes of the implementation of such a policy will naturally vary from country to country. The purpose of this paper is to share the results of research which has: ï Compared South Africaís IHP to those of other countries; ï Investigated the impact that the application of the IHP may have on private sector developers and the subsequent provision of housing; ï Whether or not the policy is likely to ultimately have the intended outcomes that it is supposed to; ï Potential problems that may be encountered when people from different economic groups live together; and ï Suggested how other emerging countries that may wish to implement such a policy could do so successfully.

To fully appreciate the environmental impact of an office building, the transport-related CO2 emissions resulting from its location should be considered in addition to the emissions that result from the operation of the building itself. Travel-related CO2 emissions are a function of two criteria. The first relates to the location of the office relative to the location of the workforce, the market, complementary business activities (and the agglomeration benefits this offers), the availability and cost of transport modes. The second relates to the mode of transport between these locations and frequency of visits which, in turn, depends on the requirement for a physically present workforce and face-to-face contact with clients. This paper examines the commuting-related CO2 emissions that result from city centre and out-of-town office locations. Using 2001 Census Special Workplace Statistics which record peopleís residence and usual workplace and mode of transport between them, distance travelled and mode of travel were calculated for a sample of city centre and out-of-town office locations. The results reveal the extent of the difference between transport-related CO2 emitted by commuters to out-of-town and city centre locations. The implications that these findings have for monitoring the environmental performance of offices are discussed.

The primary question addressed in this paper is how media coverage of the U.S. housing market relates to changes in the housing market. Specifically, does the news about the residential real estate market lag changes in observed changes in the market (representing the case where the media simply reports the news), or does the news lead the market, possibly creating some type of media ìfrenzyî, or do the news and the housing market evolve together? We test Robert Shillerís hypothesis that the media was influential in causing or contributing to the housing boom during the 1996-2005 period. We also test the influence of the media on the sharp downturn in the housing market following 2006. Our data are from a national survey that measures the level of householdsí housing demand and we create a new data set that measures various aspect of media coverage of the housing market. Using a VAR model, we test for relationships between housing demand and the content of the media, paying particular attention to whether this relationship differs comparing booms and busts.

The Italian tourist sector is historically affected by seasonal problems: in many locations the tourist season lasts only for 4-5 months per year. For the remaining 7-8 months hotels and leisure activities are forced to close: in these months of low season expenses could be higher than revenues. Italian seaside tourist areas are the most affected by seasonal adjustments: even for this reason return on investment could not be so attractive for the main international brands. During the last years some operators tried to get round this matter diversifying the offer: SPA, wellness centres, business centres, etc.These devices are only local and segmented operation that do not lead to a resolution of the problem. The aim of this study is try to identify some categories till now ignored by the tourism sector and demonstrate that invest in these groups of people could help the renewal of the sector. Each category will be analysed in order to individuate the qualitative and quantitative aspects that can impact on the tourism sector: - demography: quantification and trends; - purchasing power; - propensity to travel; - the way of life; - etc. // For each analysed category we will estimate the increase of the number of travellers and the impact on the turnover of the Italian tourist sector that is possible to gain investing in these groups.

As primary good to develop, the price of land tends to be an important variable in the real estate market and is one of the main parameters of public private transactions. Despite this relevance, an explicit comparison of the differences in pricing land is somewhat scarce. Earlier studies have yet made clear that the institutional framework of land markets differs across countries (Van der Post, 2008). Nevertheless, the literature lacks the quantitative perspective to present the impact of these interventions in terms of land prices. This paper attempts to interpret and explain these differences between some prime countries and cities across Europe and will contribute to a better understanding of different land policy models. The paper first briefly looks at the theory about the persistence of structural differences in the organization of land markets in some major EU countries and cities. After discussing the observable similarities and variations of land pricing methods, the second section offers a comprehensive overview of the empirical data of the selected land markets. Finally the concluding remarks are presented. A few notes remain. First of all, unfortunately, in the field of land supply data problems are considerable. So given the relatively short period towards Milano, this paper is set up as a general start for a yearly held research about land prices and its explanations.

Since the early 90s, European cities most affected by the crisis, sought to become attractive for residents, tourists and investors by launching extensive renovation programs. These have focused primarily on urban places due to their role as interconnection of transport networks and their ability to embed the history of the city. The planner must then consider the effect of these public investments on private property valuation. We are here assuming that the proximity of certain features of urban spaces affects property values. However, we must determine whether the effect of proximity on the price is linear or not and if this effect differs according to a typology of spaces. The significance of the statistical approach assumes to have a long observation period under duress of stability characteristics of the plazas. For the field study we chose the city of Bordeaux in France because of its history and the availability of real estate data long term. 54 plazas are included in the sample.

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the peculiarities of the Italian office market, focused on the cities of Milan and Rome, in comparison with the other major European markets. The analysis would also concentrate on tenants requirements in the changing business and market environment, particularly in terms of location and building preferencies, factors influencing the demand for space, attention to sustainability.

Europe faces a huge challenge in renovating the energy hungry concrete suburbs built in the 60s and 70s. These suburbs were constructed in Europe during a greatest rehabilitation project. Especially, in Nordic countries the concrete suburbs represent the largest single housing stock, which is now facing extensive renovations. The deficiencies of the traditional sequential planning to cope with this major challenge are becoming more and more evident and new ways to improve the dialogue between all the actors for low energy urban development are becoming crucial. Similarly, the studies in real estate development field have mainly concerned the feasibility of low-energy design options from the construction costs and process perspective. However, hardly any studies have approached the issue from the opportunity, i.e. value creation perspective. The purpose of this research is to rethink the ìsuburb challengeî and to innovate a value creation strategy for the concrete suburbs. The study presents an Urban Redevelopment Concept (URC) that tries to maximize the value of renovations to the users and owners of the buildings. The URC recognizes the multi stakeholder environment of urban innovations and presents a new urban development framework based on urban design management thinking. The new concepts tests the role and requirements of an external urban manager, as well as, a new financing approach based on logics of investment markets instead of traditional loan and credit markets. The URC concept was tested in one major neighborhood development project. The first results of the framework show a significant change in the direction of the suggested urban planning and design solutions. Instead of adding costs to the owners and tenants the framework has produced a solution where urban planning supports urban design innovations and value creation for both the internal (tenants and owners) and external (investors, authorities, customers) stakeholders.

The City of Offenbach is a small sister City next to Frankfurt/Main, the financial capital of Germany. There was a considerable drainage of spending power of the region towards Frankfurt. An unused inner city news paper plant was demolished and an new shopping mall was integrated in the urban fabric of the city. By an engaged dialogue to the City administration an deal was achieved. The City got two new pedestrian zone with an upgrading of the urban fabric an we could got hold of a part of a street to join an existing car park with the newly constructed 3 storey shopping mall and offices on top. Part of the deal was to employ sources of geothermal energy by extracting warm water in the winter month and use the soil as a cooling resource for the summer month. A win win situation was achieved for the City of Offenbach and the HOCHTIEF Property Development. The author was responsible as consultant for overall building and tenant management. WLS and E+P Projektmanagement, with it`s managing director, have been responsible for an number of shopping malls including an MIPIM AWARD winning scheme.