REP Research Roundup: October 2025
Welcome to October's REP Research Roundup.
MSc Real Estate Finance London Field Trip — Hines Europe HQ
Our MSc Real Estate Finance cohort visited Hines’ European Headquarters in London. Huge thanks to our wonderful hosts at Hines for the warm welcome and practical perspectives on the investment process, underwriting, and development delivery. We had the following sessions on the day:
- Hines Intro: Donna Springall – Director, Management Services
- European Living Platform: Adrianna Aguirreurreta – Senior Analyst, Living
- Hines European Core Fund: Lauren Vallace – HECF Analyst
- Hines European Property Partners: Davide Carnevale – Senior Associate, HEPP
- Capital Markets: Tyran Meisuria – Associate, Institutional Investor Services
- Research Overview: Anthony Witkowski – Senior Associate, Research
- Hines European Value Fund: Una Protic – Director, Fund Management
It was an inspiring day for the cohort.
Special thanks to Yuan Zhao for organising the trip, and to Xiaolun Yu and Gabriel Gyojun Shin for their support on the day.
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Walking Tour through London on 26 September, 2025
Our new cohort of MSc Real Estate and MSc Spatial Planning and Development students were on a walking tour through London during Welcome week:
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Real Estate and Planning Career Fair on 8, October, 2025
The Real Estate and Planning Career Fair 2025 was a great success, bringing together students and leading employers from across the property sector. A huge thank you to all the companies and attendees who joined us and made the event such a valuable opportunity for networking and career inspiration.
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Research:
Publications:
Chiwuzie, A., Daniel, I. D. Ogunba, O. A. and Hahn, J. (2025) Creating an inclusive real estate industry: assessing the enrolment, experiences and career prospects of female students in an African higher education institution. Property Management, 43 (1). pp. 1-14.
Abstract:
Workspace equality and inclusivity remain critical in promoting diversity and dynamism across all sectors of the economy. Despite recent progress, gender disparities persist in the real estate sector, including education and training programmes. This study employs a quantitative research design to assess gender diversity of real estate education at Federal Polytechnic Ede in Nigeria. The study focuses on female students' enrolment in real estate programmes, their experiences, perceptions and any potential effect on real estate career prospects.
A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 138 out of all the 150 female students currently enrolled in the real estate programmes. Descriptive statistics and a one-sample t-test were utilised for the data analysis.
The findings indicate an increased number of females enrolled in real estate programmes. Female students face a lack of access to mentorship opportunities and perceive gender discrimination and bias in the real estate industry. However, these industry factors would not deter female students' decision to pursue a career in the real estate industry after graduation.
This study to the best knowledge of the researchers is the first to investigate gender dimensions of real estate programmes in the context of African higher education institutions; thereby contributing to the body of knowledge on gender diversity in this field.
Daniel, I. D., Fateye, T. B. and Abanda, F. H. (2025) Regional-level analysis of housing price dynamics in the United Kingdom: a multivariate causality approach. International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis. (In Press)
Abstract:
This paper investigates the dynamic causal relationships between regional housing markets and the national house price index in the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2024, capturing periods of economic expansion, financial crisis, post-Brexit uncertainty, COVID-19 disruption, and inflationary volatility. Drawing on a dual spatial framework, disaggregating the devolved nations and England’s NUTS1 regions, this study employs Granger causality testing alongside a triad of robust regression estimators (M-estimator, S-estimator, and MM-estimator) to detect persistent and directional price leadership patterns. Empirical results identify three English sub-regions (the North East, North West, and South West) as consistent ‘signal transmitters’ whose house price innovations significantly Granger-cause movements in the national index. In contrast, London and the South East exhibit diminishing bidirectional influence, suggesting post-pandemic price decoupling and weakening spatial arbitrage. These findings contradict classical ripple-effect assumptions and indicate increasing segmentation within the UK housing system. The analysis is further strengthened by a series of robustness checks that accounts for structural breaks, heteroskedasticity, and outlier bias, thereby increasing confidence in the model’s validity across the complex macro-financial cycles under investigation. The results carry material implications for policymakers, particularly the Bank of England, HM Treasury, and the Office for Budget Responsibility, as early-warning signals from peripheral regions could enhance macroprudential risk forecasting and affordability targeting. This paper contributes to the theoretical discourse on regional integration and market segmentation, offering a multi-scalar, statistically robust framework for assessing housing market dynamics in advanced economies. It also opens new directions for incorporating time-varying causality and spatial dependency into national housing policy design.
Gu, Y., Lord, A., Dunning, R., Wilson, I. and Moore, T. (2025) Park Life: the difference between having financial information and understanding it on park home owners’ quality of life. Town Planning Review. (In Press)
Abstract:
Few older people move each year, yet many are open to moving if it improves their quality of life and enables them to live independently. Residential park homes, manufactured homes typically owned by the resident but sited on rented land, are marketed as a relatively luxurious affordable downsizing option for older people who wish to maintain their independence. A notable characteristic of the sector is a 10% commission on the resale value of a dwelling. We utilise unique data from a large-scale survey (N=1521) of park home residents to investigate how the provision and clarity of information regarding this commission at the time of purchase influences the subjective wellbeing of park home owners. Our empirical analysis reveals that clear, fully understood information about the commission significantly enhances owners’ subjective life satisfaction, whereas mere awareness of this commission does not have a statistically significant effect. Our findings extend the understanding of the effect of (asymmetrical) information in housing decision making and provide specific insights for promoting residential mobility which extend beyond this niche housing sector.
Levin-Keitel, M., Sielker, F., Nikolaus-Behrend, L., Schmitt, P., Sondermann, M., Özogul, S., Maidment, C. Mäntysalo, R., N! iko laus-Behrend, L., Gruber, E., Maidment, C. Davy, B., Förster, A., Shepherd, E., Eizenberg, E., Dabovic, T., Mäntysalo, R., Webster, C. and Schulze Dieckhoff, V (2025) Difficulties for theorisation within planning research and practice – an exploration of key dimensions of planning theories. Planning Theory & Practice.
Li, J. Ren, X. and Yang, N. (2025) ESG Ratings Inconsistency and its Effects on Information in Capital Market. China Accounting and Finance Review. (In Press)
Abstract:
This study explores how inconsistency in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings affects the information environment of publicly traded companies in emerging markets. Drawing on data from six ESG rating agencies covering Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2022, we construct measures of pairwise ESG rating divergence and average them across 15 unique rater pairs. We then employ Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions with fixed effects to examine how inconsistencies in ESG ratings affect stock return synchronicity in the Chinese capital market. Our findings indicate that greater ESG rating divergence correlates with increased stock return synchronicity, suggesting a decline in the dissemination of firm-specific information. Supporting evidence for this relationship includes reduced private information flow, heightened opportunistic executive sales, and decreased stock turnover for firms associated with higher ESG rating divergence. Our analysis suggests that such divergence hinders informed trading by institutional investors, and the effect is more pronounced for firms with lower transparency, such as those with fewer analysts, limited investor oversight, and sparse ESG disclosure, as well as for firms in non-polluting industries. These findings emphasize that ESG rating divergence exacerbates uncertainty about firms' future performance, discourages informed trading, and ultimately restricts the integration of firm-specific information into stock prices. This study adds to the literature on ESG ratings and market efficiency, highlighting the importance of standardizing rating methodologies and improving corporate disclosure to counteract the adverse impacts of rating divergence.
Lin, Z., Shi, S. and Pain, K. (2025) Innovate or acquire? An empirical analysis of global firms' strategies to mitigate carbon risk. Business Strategy and the Environment (In press).
Abstract:
Porter’s hypothesis suggests that environmental regulations motivate firms to innovate by investing in Research and Development (R&D). However, is R&D the sole strategy open to global firms seeking to mitigate their exposure to carbon risk? The study addresses this question by exploring two corporate strategies - innovating strategy via R&D and acquiring strategy via Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As). Our dataset comprises 7,903 global firms that pursued either R&D or M&A strategies between 2000 and 2020, examining the impact of emissions on global firms’ R&D and M&A decisions and their preferences for the two options. We find that elevated pressures on carbon emissions prompt firms to pursue both R&D and M&A. Firms tend to adopt R&D strategies under stringent regulations, while they opt for M&A strategies amidst financial constraints. Our findings not only clarify the strategic trade-offs between innovation and acquisition but also validate the complementary roles of institutional and stakeholder theories in shaping proactive carbon management.
Surma, M. J., Nunes, R. and Rook, C. 2025) ‘Engaging’ workplace ecosystem post-pandemic: a real estate industry perspective. Journal of Corporate Real Estate. (In Press)
Abstract:
Triggered by the acceleration of hybrid work practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aims to explore the future development and utilisation of the workplace environment for knowledge-based organisations. It examines whether, and how, the global real estate (workplace) sector has contributed to this transition, with a focus on creating an “engaging” workplace post-pandemic. A qualitative study was carried out to examine future workplace scenarios through in-depth interviews with 11 experts from the global real estate (workplace) sector. All the experts interviewed focused on different aspects of the workplace environment, such as management, design and evaluation. The findings emphasise the need to improve alignment between organisational and workplace industry metrics within broader urban environments to facilitate a successful transition to an “engaging” workplace ecosystem after the pandemic. The study also underscores the importance of wider adoption of workplace certificates and metrics to support these post-pandemic workplace ecosystems. This is a relevant and timely study that presents future workplace scenarios projected by leading global real estate sector professionals. The findings obtained through in-depth interviews offer recommendations for organisations considering a permanent shift or transition to hybrid work practices and their monitoring and evaluation.
