PROGRAMME STRUCTURE and CURRICULUM

1-week full-day induction course taught over Week 0 (usually in early August). Compulsory to be taken before any other courses.

This course introduces the fundamental concepts and techniques involved in understanding and managing the real estate development process. It examines the entrepreneurial, legal & institutional elements, which include real estate laws governing development, in the transformation of existing real estate to its highest and best use. Modeling the sequential events in the real estate development process, the course covers a wide range of issues encountered in the different phases of development – from site evaluation and land procurement, development team assembly, real estate market studies, preparation of development schemes, construction & project management, project marketing and finally to the hand-over of completed projects.

This course provides an understanding of the economic perspectives of the real estate market. It shows how the interactions between the real estate market with other asset markets, capital markets and the wider economy can be examined using theoretical and empirical analyses. This provides an integrative framework for understanding and forecasting the forces that shape the rental space market, the investment asset market, and the development industry. In addition, the course examines linkages between macroeconomic trends and business cycles and the behavior of real estate market aggregates such as prices, rents, and returns.

This course examines how real estate can be financed. Students will learn the theories, techniques and practices of corporate finance applicable to property company portfolios. Major topics covered include: sources of finance, financial statement analysis, corporate growth and market valuation, net asset discount, the impact of leverage and dividend policy on capital structure decisions, corporate governance and transparency. In addition, the course deals with the implications of different arrangements such as partnerships, joint-venture structuring, sale-leaseback and other forms of development financing, both bridging and permanent, on deal viability.

This course seeks to develop an understanding of the theory and professional practice of real estate valuation. It aims to impart the foundational concepts of value and the significance of real estate valuation to the real estate market. The focus is on concepts, principles, process of market valuation and the contemporary approaches to the valuation of all types of property. It also covers more advanced appraisal issues and topics including the valuation of special properties & interests, business, equipment & intangible assets. It also examines the use of AVMs and the professional practice and standards of valuation as regulated by professional bodies in Singapore and globally.

A distinctive characteristic of real estate is the extensive government regulation of both land and the built environment. Focusing on the development of urban and metropolitan areas and the dynamic forces that drive urban growth as well as shape urban spatial configurations, this course examines the impact of government regulations and public policies on real estate markets. Selected topics include planning and development controls, degeneration and urban renewal, private-public participation, leasehold policy, public versus private housing, and urban fiscal policy such as property taxation, local government finance and development and betterment levies. It also provides an overview of the incentives created by the legal and institutional framework on real estate development.

This course seeks to provide a practice-oriented understanding of the evolution of the REIT and property funds as vehicles for real estate investment. It delves into the motivations for creating a REIT and the institutional regimes such as taxation and other regulations that influence how a REIT operates. In addition, it studies the formation of business trusts and property funds to determine the relative merits for sponsors and investors. Topics to be covered include practical issues in property fund management for institutional and high net worth clients; establishing and managing a property fund management; fees of REIT managers; role of sponsors; interested-party transactions; internal versus external management structure. It will also examine the growth strategies of REITs, i.e. organic growth and accretive acquisitions and capital management strategy to drive the development of investment vehicles such as trusts and funds.

This course develops an understanding of the tools for assessing real estate investment opportunities at the macro or portfolio level, as well as the micro or asset level. It covers modern portfolio theory before examining the role of property in an institutional investment portfolio with particular attention given to property portfolio performance analysis, diversification benefits and investment strategy. Real estate asset management involves optimising the cash flows generated from real estate assets by a direct real estate owner, investor or an organisation which incidentally heads, owns or leases real estate to support its corporate mission. This course examines how direct real estate should be managed proactively to enhance property value or the worth of the business operations the property facilitates.

This course provides exposure to the structure and organisation of real estate markets in emerging and developed markets in Asia. It will cover the institutional framework of the key Asian markets. The field study focuses on one of them with an in-depth appreciation of the institutional and market economy aspects of the subject country including real estate regulation, investment practices and development procedures. Students are expected to complete individual and group reports including recommendations for investment in real estate such as structuring a cross-border venture. However, in the event where actual field trips to another country/city is not possible, students will conduct virtual studies with online lectures.

The course covers innovations in debt capital markets, mainly the design of mortgage contracts and the development of real estate securitisation and structured financing products globally. Students will acquire a toolkit that allows them to understand mortgage mathematics, term structure models and the pricing of embedded options in real estate debt instruments. The course also covers credit analysis and the role of credit rating for real estate debt. Emphasis will be placed on the investment characteristics and pricing of secondary real estate instruments such as Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS), Collateralised Mortgage Obligations (CMOs), asset-backed securitisation deals, as well as publicly traded debt paper.

This course aims to equip the participants with an understanding of the different statutory instruments adopted by tax jurisdictions and how they may be used to achieve fiscal, economic and social objectives. Participants will learn in-depth knowledge and techniques used in the valuation of real estate for a wide range of statutory purposes such as acquisition or disposal of properties, financial reporting, and taxation. The course focuses on the sharing and discussion of many past case examples and studies of statutory valuation assignments that valuation professionals in both private and public sectors had encountered. Students will gain insights into the various practical valuation issues and challenges.

This course equips students with the knowledge and skills to engage with and actively respond to technological disruptions in the urban environment. The first part introduces basic computational skills for urban data analytics using the R language and other open source tools. The second part builds the conceptual foundations needed to understand data analytics, financial innovation and the process of digitalisation in a coherent framework. This is an applied course for students in real estate and related fields with little-or-no programming experience. Students are guided towards designing, constructing and deploying data-driven urban analytics and PropTech applications.

This is a seminar type course, designed for students who are interested in sustainability challenges in real estate development and investment and who want to gain the knowledge and insights to implement solutions to address the challenges. As the real estate industry needs to transform its products and services, practitioners and service providers must know how to deal with such sustainability challenges.