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Real Estate Development MSc
| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2024-09-01 | - |
Program Overview
Course summary
Informed by our extensive commercial and professional partnerships within the property sector, this practical Master’s course will prepare you to adapt and excel within the complex and ever-changing real estate market – from valuation and appraisal to the strategic management and development of commercial and residential property assets.
Accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), it aims to provide a challenging, stimulating and professionally relevant course of study that is directly related to the valuation, management and development of real estate property. Capitalising on our excellent industry contacts, course content is informed by leading firms such as Barratt Homes and British Land, as well as Savills and Cushman and Wakefield, who regularly send their own staff to train with us.
Taught by staff who will share their own experiences as surveyors and planners, you'll gain a detailed understanding of the property development and appraisal process, encompassing the financial, physical, legal and social aspects. You’ll also develop the latest management skills and techniques to successfully deliver projects to meet client expectations taking account of any external constraints.
Our central London location enables us to invite a wide range of professionals to give guest lectures and we arrange various site visits, so you can experience real-life estate strategies and see developments from construction through to completion. As part of the Development Finance and Funding module, a limited number of students have the opportunity to participate in an international study trip, which in 2019 included visits to Brookfield Properties and Cushman and Wakefield in New York. To take part in this trip, you'll have to pay an additional fee of about £950.
The course is ideally suited to graduates with some existing property experience, who aspire to senior positions in real estate development or property management. However, you will be welcomed if you’re seeking to move to a career within this dynamic industry and can demonstrate your passion for property.
Most of our graduates go on to work for central London property firms, in real estate development, valuation or estate management, while others pursue property-related careers with local authorities and housing associations.
Top reasons to study with us
- One of the few UK universities to bring together all the disciplines that inform the design and development of our towns and cities
- Excellent industry links with property firms and construction companies including Lendlease, Knight Frank, Chase and Partners, RICS and Falcon Chambers
- Street walks taking in Marylebone, Euston and Fitzrovia, and street talks incorporating Kings Cross redevelopment, Baker Street and Mayfair
- London location enables us to invite directors of leading property firms to deliver guest lectures, previously from Cushman and Wakefield, Savills, CBRE, JLL, Lend Lease and BRE
- Multicultural learning experience with students from all over the world
- Contractors, developers, professional consultancies, client organisations, central government and local authorities all employ our graduates
Course structure
The aim of the course is to provide you with a detailed understanding of the property development and appraisal process, encompassing valuation, financial, physical, legal and social aspects. You'll analyse development situations and respond to particular development problems with derived solutions. You’ll also enhance your capability to critically appraise options and independently evaluate alternative courses of action. There are seven core modules, including the dissertation, and one option module.
Depending on your choice of option modules, you can tailor your studies towards valuation, legal or property finance and investment, learning more about procurement surveying, how to raise capital, take financial decisions or deal with banks and investors.
The modules below are indicative of what you will study on this course. You will take modules totalling 180 credits.
Semester 1
In the first semester, you'll study subjects including property and planning law, valuation and finance with examples from real case scenarios. Industry guest speakers will complement lectures delivered by the course team, and student activities will include site visits and work on property development and finance projects that will bring together skills newly acquired as part of your learning process.
Semester 2
In the second semester, you'll be given the opportunity to register for an optional field trip to an international property market destination (subject to additional cost). In the past, for example, students travelled to New York to study urban regeneration and real estate development in midtown Manhattan and the surrounding areas. They visited some of the major development firms, the city’s business department, business improvement districts and one of the world’s largest new developments at Hudson Yards.
To complete the course, you need to choose a research topic, conduct empirical research and produce an academic dissertation. Previous students have, for example, considered the impact of Crossrail on house prices in outer London boroughs, analysed the shortcomings and alternatives to the Help to Buy Scheme (HTB) and the impact of tenant rights on the residential property markets in the UK and Germany.
Core modules
Asset Management
The module aims to set corporate decision making in the context of the business environment, corporate goals and the practice of company finance, estate and portfolio management. You will gain a grounding in property as an asset class, and a practical and theoretical appreciation of the techniques and practices currently being used in the management and valuation of commercial property. In the financial element of this module, you will explore issues relating to accounting principles and financial management accounts, and the implications of tax. Equally important is an appreciation of ratio analysis and strategy.
20 credits
Dissertation/Project
The work for this module involves the completion of a structured research programme resulting in a dissertation or major research project. You can opt for a traditional academic dissertation which identifies a hypothesis and research questions, involves some original research, draws conclusions and, if appropriate, makes recommendations. Alternatively you can complete a defined project involving the preparation of a strategy or action plan for an issue relevant to your studies, and include a 20,000-word reflection on, and evaluation of, the strengths and weaknesses of the approach and the constraints which are likely to impact on the proposals.
40 credits
Law for Property Professionals
This module fosters reflection on where the law comes from and how it develops (including the influence of European Law), and encourages your understanding of the relationship between the legal process and social change. You will develop mastery of the key principles (and their operation in practice) of English Law relating to business, including contract, tort, real estate law and regulatory regimes which particularly affect the property industry. You will also gain a greater understanding of legal theory, including statute and judicial precedent; the role of Europe; tort, contract and business law; administrative law and regulatory regimes; real estate law; and landlord and tenant law.
20 credits
Property Development
This module critically examines the stages involved in developing land and properties, and the roles of key players involved in appraising physical, legal, financial and social aspects required for a successful outcome. The study concentrates on single and multiple use developments (with a focus on commercial and residential). Emphasis is placed on the needs of developers as well as end users as consumers of development projects, whilst also reviewing aims and objectives of other key players in the development process.
20 credits
Property Finance
The module addresses the strategic role of lending in the property sector. The sector has become dependent upon lenders for the vast majority of cash inflows into it; and the module will look at the history of the involvement of lenders, the risk assessment and risk mitigation, and the procedures involved in lending on property. The study of traditional banking will be supplemented with investment banking techniques.
20 credits
Property Valuation
This module is designed to critically evaluate the merits and limitations of the traditional and contemporary approaches ;to real estate valuation in the broad economic, financial and social context. The module examines the challenges facing the global valuation profession in the valuation process due to technology advancement and social changes, and further explores the modern methods of valuation and the valuation practice that can fit for the future.
20 credits
Sustainability and Real Estate
The module develops a strategic approach to the implementation of sustainability into a building's lifecycle. Achieving sustainability is critically assessed throughout various stages of the Real Estate development (including project feasibility, design, planning, construction, estate management and refurbishment) with a focus on stakeholders’ roles, responsibilities and decision-making as part of a multidisciplinary team.
20 credits
Option modules
Applied Valuation
This module centres upon methods of valuation applicable to properties for rating, and compulsory purchase purposes together with leasehold enfranchisement and properties subject to the housing acts.
20 credits
Landlord and Tenant
This module covers the concepts and law surrounding commercial lease practice and rent reviews/lease negotiation, from both a landlord's and tenant's perspective. You will develop an understanding of, and familiarity with, the legal background to the landlord and tenant relationship, and its application in practice. This will include the study of statutory security of tenure, rent review, and other usual lease clauses including 'break' clauses, repair, user, alterations and alienation. You will also consider and discuss points of practical difficulty and complexity involved in negotiating lease terms and their subsequent implementation.
20 credits
Planning in Practice
This module provides an overview of the planning system in England and Wales. It examines what planners do in practice and the role of planning in the property development process. Students will learn how to determine whether something requires planning permission, and how to appraise the planning context of a site. The module will examine where local planning policies come from and how planning applications are determined.
20 credits
Property Investment Portfolio Analysis
This module acquaints students with the integrated theoretical and practical concepts and knowledge on property investment. It examines the changing legislation and regulations relating to the management of property as a financial and investment asset amongst the alternative investment vehicles, and how investment theories can apply in the global property market. Gamification as one of the innovative learning technologies is employed to help students create,evaluate and appraise their investment strategies/decisions and the performance of their own investment portfolios.
20 credits
Professional accreditation
This course is fully accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
