Recent trends in European real estate research

The goal of this report is to describe the European trends in research in real estate business. This state of the art is based on different seminars and discussions with real estate professionals. Basic events behind this report were two conferences (8th and 9th) of the European Real Estate Society (later ERES), held in 2001 and 2002. ERES was established to create a network between real estate academics and professionals across Europe. Researchers from all Europe that have a shared interest in real estate related issues, encompassing land, commercial property, housing and mortgage markets, could share opinions and experiences. ERES is also a member of the International Real Estate Society (IRES) through which the ERES network has a wider dimension. However this report does not address the real estate trends merely from a conference point of view but also takes leads from articles - both national and international journals. A special emphasis is given to discussions that are presently going on in Finland. There are two main focuses: firstly, to see the Finnish real estate research in a wider international context and secondly, to see how we should combine the good technology base with user's needs, real estate economics and ownership. The National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes) started the five-year technology programme "Rembrand" in 1999 to offer public funding for R&D projects concerning real estate management and services. Internationalisation and professionalisation have raised the concern and also the interest to elaborate processes and tools in real estate finance and management. Finnish real estate research is catching up with the world's top level but we have some limitations. Our real estate market is small and there is a lack of potential investments. Several development processes are in progress and it is obvious that the situation will change in the near future. At the European level, the incipient Sixth framework programme (FP6) will connect research efforts in different areas to achieve, for example, sustainable development. Real estate issues are an important part of this. This report addresses different topics concerning urban real estate, portfolio and asset management, corporate real estate and development, workplace, home and user requirements. Real estate's relation to firms' core businesses is in the focus, and future research topics in the real estate sector are proposed.