This course provides an introduction to real estate with a focus on investment and financing issues. Project evaluation, financing strategies, investment decision-making and real estate capital markets are covered. No prior knowledge of the industry is required, but students are expected to rapidly acquire a working knowledge of real estate markets. Classes are conducted in a standard lecture format with discussion required. The course contains cases that help students evaluate the impact of more complex financing and capital markets tools used in real estate. Cross-listed with FNCE 2090/7210.
In real estate investment, data is used in a variety of ways to inform decision-making. The purpose of this course is to gain familiarity with analytical tools and techniques as they relate to guiding investment in primary real estate markets and capital markets. Students will learn statistical methods, data manipulation, data visualization, and apply business analytics tools to data on properties, mortgages, and macroeconomic indicators. A series of guest speakers will demonstrate how analytics is used in the industry, and the strengths and limitations of using data to guide investment decisions. The course will use data analytics to connect economics and finance concepts with real-world applications. The course will primarily use the R software package, but relevant materials will be provided and no prior coding experience is necessary.
In this course we will study theory and evidence of how households make decisions surrounding real estate, how they interact with the financial sector, and how housing and mortgage choices influence urban markets and household balance sheets. We will examine real estate decisions from both supply and demand perspectives. There will be a special focus on the tools of modern empirical research, emphasizing the many challenges to causal identification and popular methodologies to overcome and address these challenges. The course will cover topics in mortgage choice, refinancing, renegotiation, default and foreclosure, discrimination, housing search, and market segmentation.
PP31000. Statistics for Public Policy I
This course aims to provide a basic understanding of statistical analysis in policy research. Fundamental to understanding and using statistical analysis is the realization that data does not emerge perfect and fully formed from a vacuum. An appreciation of the provenance of the data, the way it was collected, why it was collected, is necessary for effective analysis. Equally important is an understanding of the nature of the statistical inference being attempted; the course will distinguish between model-based and design-based inference. There will be some emphasis placed on sampling from finite populations and on data from survey research. The emphasis of the course is on the use of statistical methods rather than on the mathematical foundations of statistics. Because of the wide variety of backgrounds of participating students, the course will make no assumptions about prior knowledge, apart from arithmetic. For students with a strong technical background, the aim of the course is to increase their understanding of the reasoning underlying the methods, and to deepen their appreciation of the kinds of substantive problems that can be addressed by the statistical methods described. PP31000 or PP31200 required of all first-year students.
PP34710. Housing Policy and the Crisis
When looking at the current housing market, a natural question arises: How did we get here? This class will explore the rise and fall of the housing market in the 2000s, and discuss the impact on households, neighborhoods, financial markets, and the government. Topics include the mortgage securitization chain, the role of regulation and the GSEs, state and local support for low-income housing, the foreclosure crisis, and the future of the housing market and mortgage finance. No prerequisites, but you will be expected to read and interpret sophisticated empirical analysis from the economics and finance literatures.
PP34240. Real Estate, Banking, and Household Finance
This course provides an overview of the ways in which households interact with the financial sector and the importance of regulation in these interactions. We will discuss the role of banks and financial intermediaries in household borrowing and saving decisions, with a special emphasis on the real estate sector. Topics include bank runs and financial panics, money and business cycles, financial regulation, and housing finance, while the second half of the course will focus on studying household financial decision-making through a behavioral lens. There are no prerequisites, but you will be expected to read and interpret sophisticated empirical analysis from the economics and finance literatures.