The role of local estate agents in the residential development process

Summary

The estate agent is usually seen and theorized as a gatekeeper responsible for directing certain people to certain parts of the city (Williams, 1976). However, estate agents are capable of performing many more functions other than simple house agency. This paper presents results from a series of structured interviews with housebuilders and estate agents carried out in Hertfordshire by a recent research project (Elson, 1982) which reveals the extent to which certain estate agents are involved with organizing land purchases for builders and negotiating development proposals through the planning system.     

Evaluating development projects

Summary

Using a case study, it is shown that the competent assessment of real estate development projects entails the use of a broad range of skills and information input ranging from macro‐economic forecasting, assessment of inflation and interest rates; product design to ensure marketability, a review of competing projects and a command of techniques of financial appraisal. The analyses need to be keyed into a corporate framework which takes cognizance of the cost of capital, project specific risk, the management of working capital and an assessment of the effect a proposed project will have on corporate financial performance.     

An examination of the seasonality in industrial real estate construction

Summary

Though some work has been done to identify variables affecting seasonal variation in detached housing, almost nothing has been done to identify the factors affecting seasonal variations in industrial real estate construction. This paper attempts to identify some of these seasonal factors and their influence on industrial real estate construction. A Chow Test shows that there is a significant difference in the relationship between the amount of industrial real estate put in place and specific economic variables.     

United Kingdom residential price expectations and inflation

Summary

Investment in residential real estate provides both a durable and non‐durable asset which is eroded by inflation. Fisher hypothesized that if man had perfect foresight he would adjust the interest rate to counterbalance the effect of changes in inflation. Although performing creditably in the long run, residential property does not respond instantaneously or regularly to changes in the level of inflation in most places.     

Real estate market efficiency

Summary

The application of modern portfolio theory to the investment in shares and bonds is integrally connected with the efficient market hypothesis. The requirement of multivariate normality of security returns is a sufficient condition for equilibrium asset pricing models such as the capital asset pricing model to theoretical work. Nevertheless the empirical relevance in decision making is firmly based on the efficiency of the capital market. If real estate investors are to avail themselves of these techniques it is first necessary to ensure the requirements of the efficient market hypothesis are satisfied in the context of the property market. This paper reports the results of such an inquiry into the British and Australian real estate markets.     

Property portfolio allocation: A multi‐factor model

Summary

The objective of the paper is to describe a method of portfolio allocation currently being developed in the property sector. The model applies a multi‐index approach to portfolio decision making and enables investors to explore the effects of changing their allocational decisions. In estimating the parameters required for the model, we explain the method which can be used to adjust for smoothing effects on returns caused by the valuation process. Although the model is still at the development stage, the approach is general and can be applied both to allocating funds within a mixed‐asset portfolio or between different types of property within a wholly property‐orientated portfolio.     

Developer behaviour and development control

Summary

Studies by the North Carolina group established the decision modelling approach to study urban growth. These studies established the central role played by developers in the process, and the rational and adaptive behaviour of developer decision‐making. Events have since changed the developer's decision environment: the growing complexity and uncertainty of the development control process and the changing structure of the development industry towards larger and more integrated firms.

This author argues that if developers are truly rational and adaptive there should be some observable and stable relationship between their structure and operation and their performance in the development control process. This paper reports the findings of a case study which examines such relationships in the subdivision approval process in Scarborough, Ontario. Thirteen developer/development variables were tested. The major finding is that firm size was the most important variable. Large firms did not do well in negotiation but they took much less time in implementing the conditions of approval and in starting the building work. It is further argued that such behaviour is compatible with the financial, production and marketing characteristics of development firms.     

Duration and convexity in commercial property lease management

Summary

This paper examines the application of portfolio immunization strategies to leasehold real estate investments. It illustrates how measures such as duration and convexity can be used to improve the management of property portfolios and it also shows how the application of these statistical techniques can make more explicit the comparison of property assets with other investment media.     

Aesthetic control within the development process: A case study

Summary

This paper examines the practice of aesthetic control in town planning as it influences the development of large office buildings in a provincial English town. The practice of control is examined within the development process at large, and within the context of the particular historical, political and planning policy framework of the town of Reading. The main actors shaping and controlling the production of the built form are identified, and their motivation, values, and inputs (and the constraints on the same), briefly discussed. The control side is shown to be in a relatively weak reactive position, despite considerable agreement amongst the various consultees, because it enters into the development process relatively late. Furthermore the universal qualities of speculative office space, and the constraints imposed by the actors in the development team, tend to dictate a standard product. On the other hand, increasingly sophisticated control has successfully prevented the most insensitive developments, and progressively raised the standard of schemes in general, by forcing time and new insights into the design process. Such evidence is considered to call into question Central Government's longstanding restraints on, and negative attitudes towards, aesthetic control.     

Integration into a Global Production Network: Impacts on Labour in Tiruppur's Rural Hinterlands

External and internal development funds may be substitutes or complementary in financing development projects. We construct a welfare-maximizing model of a community, explicitly incorporating the decision-makers' choice between internal and external resources for development purposes. The model is estimated with Mauritian data, which include periods of rising foreign aid and substantial repayment. The computed values of substitution elasticity between the two sources of funds, derived from the social choice process, indicate that internal and external funds are complementary and therefore external funds do not seem to be fungible.     

Planning Viable Wholesale Markets for Fruit and Vegetables in Eastern European Cities

Abstract

The paper provides an overview on the present status of wholesale market (wm) development in Eastern European countries. Wms are providing essential facilities for the development of a private wholesale trade for fruit and vegetables. The study addresses major issues in planning viable wholesale markets, particularly those which are affecting the economic viability of market to be newly built. The issues addressed include: the need of identifying accurately major shortcomings of the present marketing systems and their causes, the need for active participation of beneficiaries in the planning and implementation process, deciding on size, type of buildings, on institutional and management aspects and viability of assembly markets. All these issues affect the viability of wholesale markets and their capacity of repayment loans.     

The Moral Setting for Governance in Keonjhar: The Cultural Framing of Public Episodes and Development Processes in Northern Orissa,India

A discussion of the theory of technology and economic growth suggests potentially negative implications for the impact of the Internet on developing countries. Technology in general is undoubtedly central to the growth process, but economists define technology in very broad terms. The impact of any particular, invented, technology is likely to be small. This theoretical perspective is supported by the empirical evidence on the limited impact of past "information revolutions" on less-developed countries (LDCs) and the present impact of the Internet on advanced economies. Furthermore, LDCs appear ill-prepared to benefit from the opportunities that the Internet does present--they lack the physical and human capital, along with the institutions required, to exploit the e-economy. Finally, even optimistic forecasts of the Internet's global economic impact are small in scale compared with the challenge of development. This has significant implications for development policy.     

Development studies and the development of India: An awkward case?

Abstract

The origins of the inter‐disciplinary field of “development studies” are traced to the 1960s. It is argued that Indian scholars have pursued their own distinctive lines of argument within it, but that they have also made significant contributions to the general field. The paper has a section outlining the history of “development studies”, tracing major strands of thought and the way in which Indian scholars related to them. It then looks in more detail at Indian development and the conceptualization of “development”, by both the “insiders” and “outsiders” who have had a role to play in the debate, before turning to various “characterizations” of India from Myrdal onwards.     

Consumers' Perception of Food Product Quality in Tunisia

Abstract

This paper investigates consumers' perception of food quality in Tunisia. In fact, the development of quality standards is driven by government regulations and mostly in response to export markets regulations. The role of consumers in this process is quite missing. This paper first highlights the current food safety and quality programs undertaken by the Tunisian government. Second, we use a sample of 150 consumers chosen at random at two of the largest hypermarkets in Tunisia to analyze consumers' behavior regarding quality. The paper shows strong concerns about hygiene among other quality attributes and strong awareness about quality and quality assurance schemes in general. Consumers are also motivated by habits of consuming home made products for hygiene and taste reasons. If appropriate quality systems were implemented to assure consumers about such attributes this would boost up demand for quality products.     

Marketing Practices and Distribution System of Rice in Punjab,India

Abstract

The study focuses on the marketing practices, market structures, and firms' motives for vertical co-ordination of the paddy-rice distribution system during the post green revolution period in the Punjab state of India. The study is based upon secondary data taken from several published sources and intensive interviews with the market agents in the entire distribution chain from growers to the retailers. Study highlighted the emergence of public sector as a giant player in the paddy (non-basmati) wholesale markets, unscrupulous practices for paddy/rice supplies, wide disparities in the issue prices for the below and above poverty line families, reduced off take from the public distribution system, launching of several schemes to off load excessive stocks, and improve market efficiency. Open market segment of the industry is highly fragmented wherein a large majority of the market agents have confined at the levels they can be best managed, vertical co-ordination plays a pivotal role to cope up with market imperfections and supply agents constitute a strategic link for rice sales. However, private milling gains momentum particularly during the downward phase of the industry due to increased profitability.     

Food-Related Lifestyle Segments in Ireland with a Convenience Orientation

Abstract

This paper reports on an investigation into the convenience orientation of various food-related lifestyle segments in Ireland. The food-related lifestyle instrument developed by the Centre for research on customer relations in the food sector (MAPP Institute in Denmark) provided a valuable framework for the development of this analysis.

This instrument was applied in Ireland in 2001, with a nationally representative sample of one thousand Irish consumers. Six distinct food-related lifestyle segments were identified (Ryan, 2002). The lifestyle instrument grouped consumers in terms of their attitudes towards the purchase, preparation and consumption of food products in general.

This research investigates the degree to which these food-related lifestyle segments are convenience-oriented by investigating their attitudes towards convenience and their purchase frequency for a range of convenience foods. The convenience element was developed following a review of the Irish convenience food market, which highlighted a number of convenience-related food issues driving this market. This study identified the food-related lifestyle segments that were particularly convenient oriented. These segments were further explained by relating their purchase frequency for a range of convenience products.

The attitudes of the various food-related lifestyle segments towards convenience foods and purchase frequencies for convenience foods differed. Three of the food-related lifestyle segments were identified as having a convenience orientation, namely the hedonistic, the extremely uninvolved and the adventurous segments.     

Housing land availability — some observations of the process of housing development in contrasting urban locations

Summary

Housing development operates at different levels of intensity in the urban areas of Britain, and private and public housebuilders exert varying pressures on local planning authorities. The findings of a research study on the provision of land for residential development in urban areas are examined by means of six case studies. These expose the significance of landownership and planning policies in influencing the rate of housing development. In order to exploit fully the potential of urban sites for residential development there is a need for coordinated action by local authorities which may include compulsory purchase power and a housing development budget.     

Concept Optimisation in Innovation Through Conjoint Analysis

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to identify the optimal extrinsic and intrinsic attributes for a range of chilled nutrientenriched orange juice beverages; and to evaluate the contribution of advanced concept optimisation research techniques to new product design and the strategic marketing of innovative functional beverages. A conjointbased survey was administered in both Dublin and Cork between May and September 2004. The results suggested that firms should not rely solely on functionality to leverage a competitive advantage when developing functional beverages. Advanced concept optimisation research techniques contribute towards effective knowledge management in the new product development (NPD) process.     

Methods and models for international comparative approaches to real estate development

Real estate development is a significant factor in planning the built environment. It shapes the way people live and work, and by doing so enables human activity to evolve. Real estate development forms a contemporary reflection of social, economic, environmental, and political forces at hand. Furthermore, due to globalization, we are increasingly witnessing similar trends for space despite institutional differences existing between countries and cities contained within their national borders. In this conceptual paper, we place a firm rationale towards international comparative real estate development study. Furthermore, we demonstrate current international comparative methods and a range of real estate development models, set against a new conceptual model in this field. It is put forward that this new model can be used within international comparative methods for study of real estate development both within and between national boundaries.