Appraisal: From Theory to Practice

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

Digitalisation is not just about the application of technology, but also about business transformation enabled by digital technologies. In terms of digital transformation, there is still a significant backlog in real estate management (REM) and facility management (FM) that must be addressed. Digitalisation is changing not only the format in which information is held and processed, but also business processes and working methods. This gives rise to new concepts and methodologies, commonly referred to as digital transformation. REM and FM managers need to be aware of and understand the relevant digitalisation technologies that play an important role in the REM and FM sectors in order to take advantage of them. This paper aims to increase stakeholders’ digital awareness by explaining key digitalisation technologies in the context of their use in business. It does so by first providing an overview of the selected technologies and showing how they relate to each other, resulting in a technology matrix that categorises the business uses with regard to REM and FM managers, building users and operators. These digitalisation technologies are then explained and discussed in detail. This paper concludes by structuring the technologies, identified benefits and key implementation challenges within a digitalisation framework. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.

Real estate management activities evolved with the development of the real estate industry, the needs of property investors and general changes in the market environment. Today, these activities require a comprehensive approach on the one hand, but on the other, are more and more specialized. The paper presents an integrated view of real estate management on the example of a multidimensional basic concept of real estate management developed under German market conditions. Detailed analysis of this concept was preceded by a review of approaches to real estate management made on the basis of literature and own research. It was on this basis that opportunities and application fields of the integrated model of real estate management in Polish market conditions were characterized. The presented concept can be used both as a raster to harmonize real estate management activities and tasks in business practice, as well as a classification scheme for the evaluation of scientific research. This concept is an important step on the way to structuring and organizing real estate management as a professional service according to the indications of management science.

Building for a better hospital. Value-adding management & design of healthcare real estate

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to describe the creation process of the model for identifying the added value of corporate real estate management (CREM), implement the developed model in a case organisation and test whether it works in practice.Design/methodology/approach– The study is carried out using a constructive research approach, where the validity of the model built is tested through a single, but in‐depth, case study.Findings– The research presents the model for identifying the added value of CREM, the theoretical connections from the empirical research and practical implications of the developed model. Furthermore, the study presents the main step of a constructive research approach and examines the applicability of this research approach to real estate and facilities management‐related research.Practical implications– The model tested and developed in this research provides corporate real estate and facilities managers with the tools they need to identify their contribution to the wealth of the firm. The model also helps organisations to ensure the match between a company's business and real estate and facilities strategies.Originality/value– Previous research has not tested the model for identifying the value added by corporate real estate and facilities management (FM). The research approach of the paper, a constructive study, is also quite unfamiliar to and untested by real estate and FM researchers.

The textbook examines the legal and financial aspects of the economy and real estate management, market analysis, real estate, investing (including project financing) and mortgage lending; the essence of development; principles and approaches to effective management of modern real estate, and also questions of technical exploitation and safety of buildings; current issues of taxation of real estate; methods of valuation of real estate. Meets the requirements of Federal state educational standards of higher education of the last generation. Designed for undergraduate students enrolled in fields of study 38.03.01 "Economics" (profile "Economics and management of real estate and investments", "Economy and property management") and 38.03.02 "Management" (specialization "Management of real estate"), as well as for students of other specialties, post-graduate students, teachers, beginners appraisers, analysts, specialists in consulting and a wide range of readers interested in the status and development prospects of the real estate market.

This study addresses a critical deficiency in real estate management by examining how contractual arrangements between property owners and facility managers (FMs) can mitigate reputational damage arising from third-party liability incidents. While Spanish regulations impose comprehensive conservation and maintenance duties on property owners, current contractual frameworks inadequately protect owners from reputational risks when damages occur due to FMs’ negligence or operational failures. This conceptual study employs a systematic analysis of 16 Spanish regulations governing real estate conservation and maintenance duties, complemented by an examination of the statutory contract law and a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis to evaluate the proposed solutions. The analysis reveals four distinct liability attribution blocks, ranging from quasi-objective owner liability to full objective installation holder liability. Current service contracts between owners and FMs provide insufficient reputational protection, as civil liability remains with the property owners regardless of the FMs’ performance. This study identifies specific contractual mechanisms—combining statutory work contracts with representative mandates and installation ownership transfers—that effectively redirect tort liability from owners to FMs. While this study focuses on Spanish regulatory frameworks as a methodologically necessary foundation for theoretical development, the conceptual framework provides transferable mechanisms for adaptation to other civil law jurisdictions. This study constitutes the first comprehensive analysis bridging legal architecture and facility management to propose novel liability transfer mechanisms within established frameworks.

Identification and classification of facilities managers functions: A proposal validated by Latin American experts

PurposeThis research investigates the literature and perspectives of bilateral domains of experts, the facilities management (FM) and real estate management (REM) professionals. It provides insights towards a comprehensive understanding of office facilities relocation as organizational workplaces.Design/methodology/approachAn investigation of the literature was conducted, to identify design aspects, drivers, challenges, and technical and functional considerations of the workplace relocation. A structured survey was utilized, as face-to-face interviews with 32 FM and 32 REM professionals, to explore and compare their perspectives and expertise.FindingsThe study identified key aspects for workplace relocation that were rarely focused on, holistically, in the literature. The research led to identifying the drivers, challenges, considerations, scenarios, and design needs pertaining to the implementation, acquisition, and occupation of the workplace in times of relocation. There is a dispersed view on workplace relocation between FM and REM, which requires alignment. FM and REM experts' perspectives were intrinsically discussed to ascertain the identified key areas.Practical implicationsWorkplace relocation is a change that disturbs almost every workplace around the globe, at least once in its life cycle. This study enlists comprehension of the knowledge obtained from a review of the international literature, to provide a holistic guide for organizational decision makers, and interlink FM and REM professionals' perspectives, for enhanced decision-making.Originality/valueThis article reviews the literature on workplace relocation, covering FM and REM domains perspectives to advance the organizational workplace relocation practices.

Real estate research has taken on increased importance in recent years in the international arena. This paper analyses real estate research priorities throughout two empirical studies: the first survey was conducted among German institutional real estate investors in Germany and the second one among academic real estate researchers in Europe. 40 real estate research areas are assessed. The first survey aims at identifying research topics with a high priority for the important investors in the German real estate markets. The methodology is consciously leaned against the empirical studies by Worzala (University of San Diego, 2000) in the USA, Newell (University ofWestern Sydney, 2001) in Australia and Me Allister (University of Reading, 2003) in the UK. Based upon the international surveys mentioned above, a comprehensive analysis compares the results of the property research priorities between Germany, USA, Australia and the UK is conducted. The second survey wants to identify research priorities among European real estate academics, while using the equivalent questionnaire. According to the above mentioned surveys, a link between the industry's and academia’s priorities is drawn. The comparison with the survey results of the real estate investors will on the one hand lead to interesting findings by enabling academia to question and evaluate its own research priorities and those of the real estate industry. This may allow the more effective development of a real estate research agenda for real estate researchers in gif ARES, ERES, PPRES and AsRES, as well as for the emerging real estate societies ofAfRES and LARES. On the other hand, academia’s property research priorities should be useful to managers in real estate investment companies, since they will become aware of research topics that possibly deserve more attention. The results of the surveys - as compared internationally - show a much closer alignment for real estate research priorities in Germany, the UK and Australia than seen for the USA. This holds also true for the comparison between the four countries and European real estate academics. The role of real estate in a mixed-asset portfolio, and real estate and portfolio risk management figure prominently amongst the general real estate research priorities. Among the top specific real estate research priorities were the existence and predictability of real estate cycles and real estate portfolio diversification. Nevertheless, the overall results show that practice and academia do not align significantly. The aim should be to overcome these differences in the medium run, with the intention of contributing to a positive development of more transparent real estate markets. Real estate practice and academia should cooperate on an international level so as to create a win-win situation for both parties. It is hoped that the results of this research on the real estate research priorities between practice and academia, as well as across countries, will be the catalyst to future research initiatives in this crucial area of real estate research for members of gif and all other international real estate societies.

Urban FM (UFM) is usually understood as micro level Facility Management (FM) methods and tools applied on macro level challenges in communities and neighbourhoods in urban areas, among others to improve the citizens’ wellbeing. UFM is also often associated with smart cities, technology, and UN’s SDGs. However, many studies of UFM overlook property rights and other institutional matters that establish many of the ground rules. Property rights are frequently understood as a bundle of rights, i.e., the right of use (USUS), the right of enjoyment (USUS FRUCTUS), and the right of disposition (ABUSUS). UFM usually takes place across property boundaries, on properties with disparate bundles of rights, including restrictions through public zoning. Many urban transformation projects have established privately owned public spaces (POPS), leading to a restructured division of responsibilities between public authorities and private owners in the management, design, access control, and use of urban public spaces. This paper investigates whether and under which conditions UFM and management of POPS can contribute to realisation of UN’s SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, hereunder to facilitate development of inclusive, safe, robust, and sustainable cities and local communities.

In the Netherlands outsourcing management of real estate by institutional investors is not something obvious. Since real estate investment became in use by institutional investors about 1960, investors started their own real estate management departments. Only property management, that is concerned with daily administrative, technical and commercial management as well as maintenance activities, was outsourced to external parties. Meanwhile, these so called real estate management organizations got more professionalized caused by increased experience and changed (real estate) market circumstances. For example, this professionalization finds expression in merging local parties into (inter)national operating real estate management organizations, benchmarking of management performances and standardization of contracts. Nevertheless, the relationship between investor and manager is under pressure. Profit margins are small and real estate investors are still inc lined to think that the services delivered by real estate managers are below standards. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether there are chances for real estate management organizations to reinforce their market position. To answer this question a survey was done among three different types of real estate investors: institutional investors, limited partnerships and private investors. In the survey current outsourcing strategies, future strategies, motives and the opinion about real estate managersí services were questioned. In the conclusions a comparison will be made between outsourcing strategies of different real estate investors. Chances for the real estate management sector are formulated. At the end, the paper reflects on the sector as a whole in relation with other sectors and other countries.

Since the increase of value of real estate is no longer taken for granted, investors are looking for ways to ensure their direct return on real estate. Optimizing the occupancy rate and minimizing operating costs are important issues when calculating the direct return. For that reason, the role of the real estate manager that is responsible for daily management of the investor’s real estate portfolio, has become more important. The real estate manager has to demonstrate to the investor his or her capabilities in managing and controlling rental income and operating costs. The aim of this paper is to define the key indicators for measuring real estate management performances. The measurement of these indicators provides investors important information when improving their real estate management processes and evaluating their contracted real estate managers. Also the paper demonstrates how information about management performances can be shared by real estate investors as well as their managers by means of an online management information tool.

The anchoring effect is one of the cognitive biases studied within the phenomena observed in psychology and behavioral economics. Through the anchoring effect, human judgments and decisions can be suboptimal due to excessive focus on random information. This phenomenon plays a significant role in many aspects of social and economic life, including the real estate market, leading to incorrect decisions among both consumers and professionals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the anchoring effect on decisions regarding the value of a random apartment among Polish specialists in real estate market, based on a simplified description of the apartment. The research group included real estate valuators, real estate brokers, real estate managers, and academicians. The sample size included 170 respondents. The research showed that the effect of “anchors” is evident in every professional group, regardless of the type of services provided, educational background, or years of professional experience. The anchoring index among the surveyed group was 46 percent. The study confirms that expertise in real estate market does not guarantee unbiased assessment, and therefore, there is a need to conduct the process of real estate evaluation in a careful way to increase the chances of obtaining trustworthy results.

This paper presents the perceptions of academics on real estate topics offered in Bachelors Real Estate (BRE) curricula in Africa. In order to understand the perceptions of academics on real estate topics, a survey of seven selected BRE curricula offered in different regions of Africa was conducted to determine important real estate topics academics included in the curricula. After analyzing the curricula, sorting and re-grouping the topics: Real estate management, Real estate valuation, Real estate economics, Real estate finance and investment, Real estate development, Real estate law, Real estate planning, Real estate research, Real estate industrial training and Real estate electives emerged to be important topics the academics considered to include in the curricula. The topics are in line with those expected in a real estate curriculum. In addition, results revealed that BRE curricula follow the interdisciplinary approach to real estate education. Findings will encourage universities in Africa and elsewhere to develop comprehensive real estate curricula or improve existing ones to accommodate the interdisciplinary approach and the international perspective of real estate education because of their benefits. The study will also support the harmonization of real estate education, practice, investment and business in Africa, hence contributing towards the economic development of the continent.