Real Estate MSc

at City University of London

Structure

The first term covers the portfolio of core real estate professional skills – quantitative methods in data analysis, valuation, investment, asset management and understanding real estate markets.
 

In the second term, our two core modules, applied appraisal and financial modelling, will expand on and apply the core real estate principles and methods you studied in the first term.
 

Your second term module choices provide two learning “pathways”.

If your aim is to join the graduate entry programme of the major UK real estate employers and take the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence, you can pick modules that tilt toward UK-specific topics in law, taxation and applied valuation. If you aim to work in fund management, finance, development or outside the UK, you can tilt toward development and planning, investment vehicles and portfolios or international markets. Either way, your choice will not pre-determine the jobs available to you.
 

Induction weeks

All of our MSc courses start with two compulsory induction weeks which include relevant refresher courses, an introduction to the careers services and the annual careers fair.
 

Term 1

• Principles of Appraisal

  A module to set out the financial principles and core techniques used in valuation, cash flow modelling and investment decisions, which underpin the rest of the course. You will learn how to value a building, how to use forecasts to model future cash flows and investment returns.

• Applied Data Analysis

  To assess real estate markets and investments you will need skills in data analysis and business statistics. The module, from a base no higher than middle-school mathematics, shows you how to manipulate data and apply statistics to answering practical questions like measuring the return and risk on investments and using a basic regression model to explain market trends.

• Asset and Fund Management

  The management of real estate is critical to the success of all businesses. This module looks at issues like the role of real estate in firm strategy, cost control and benchmarking, layout and working practices which are critical for both occupiers of space and property owners who provide the space.

• Economics and Market Analysis

  A course in economics is standard for all Business School students. Here you will learn not only those general economic principles but also how they apply to real estate: what determines rent in different places, how differences in rent shape the skyline of our cities, why real estate development notoriously swings from boom to bust.
   

Term 2

• Applied Appraisal

  Shows how the principles and basic methods covered in Term 1 are extended to cover specialist property types like pubs and hotels, and are used in negotiations between landlords and tenants to decide terms for giving up, extending or transferring leases.

• Financial Modelling

  Real estate is often financed with a mix of equity and debt. Here you will learn the cash flow modelling techniques which underpin the use of senior, junior and mezzanine debt packages, and how to measure their impacts on the returns and risks of investment, with ample use of case studies and hands-on computer classes.
   

Plus any two of the following:

• Applied Valuation and Taxation

  Examines the statutory aspects of appraisal in the UK. Rating law and procedures, and taxation, particularly capital gains and value added tax, are also studied in depth.

• Landlord and Tenant Law

  Provides a sound knowledge of legislation and case law affecting the commercial property market in order to enable students to apply the legislation when undertaking valuations and appraisals of such premises.

• Investment Vehicles and Portfolios

  The module first covers the main forms of real estate investment – direct, unlisted funds and listed companies – to develop an understanding of the structures used in the capital markets, and their performance. It then examines the approaches used by investors and fund managers to set investment objectives and structure portfolios to meet those objectives.

• Development and Planning

  A development is like a new business start-up, with a sequence of high-risk steps to go through – planning, design, financing construction, letting, final sale. The development module shows how those steps are managed, the valuation and cash-flow appraisals that drive development, with a case-study and hands-on modelling approach.
   

Term 3

• Business Research Project

  The last block of your course, the Business Research Project (BRP), is the one you design and build for yourself. It takes the form of a report of around 8,000 words submitted in August. We see the BRP as your opportunity to have a showpiece which shows potential employers what you know, what you can do, your ability to produce good-quality individual work.

  BRP's come in the full range of forms.  To give a few examples:

  • Some are mostly about technical methods (a forecasting model for London offices, REITs and asset allocation in the USA)

  • Others review trends and prospect in specific real estate markets (like housing in Hong Kong, investment in Africa)

  • Or look at topical questions (like the impact of e-tailing on real estate, sustainability and building values)

  • Or look in-depth at specific development projects (Kings Cross in London, a resort in Montenegro).

• Term 3 Electives

  In term three, you also pick a set of three elective topics from around six modules specific to real estate plus a range run by other Bayes Masters programmes – some of them taught on trips to locations outside the UK. So you can focus on:

  • Added core real estate topics like building management, sustainability, residential markets.

  • Or on the investment aspects of the industry like REITs, real estate funds and portfolio construction.

  • Or pick up on more general topics such as private equity and project management taught by experts from other Bayes programmes.
     

Electives offered in 2018

• Building Project Management and Procurement

• Project Management, an Introduction for Professional Practice

• Real Estate Financial Markets: REITs, Debt and MBS

• Residential Investment

• Sustainability in Real Estate

• An Introduction to Islamic Banking,  Finance and Insurance

• Corporate Restructuring

• Energy Markets

• Ethics, Society and the Finance Sector

• Visual Basics in Finance

• Project Leadership

• Advanced Modelling and Risk Analysis
   

International electives

• Project Finance and Infrastructure Investment (taught in Madrid, Spain)

• A UK upper second class degree or above, or the equivalent from an overseas institution.

• Work experience is not a requirement for this course.

• If you have been studying in the UK for the last three years it is unlikely that you will have to take the test
   
• If you have studied a 2+2 degree with just two years in the UK you will be required to provide IELTS results and possibly to resit the tests to meet our requirements.
   

IELTS

The required IELTS level is an average of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in the writing section and no less than 6.0 in any other section.

Fees

UK/EU/International
£25,000
Tuition fees are subject to annual change
Fees in each subsequent year of study (where applicable) will be subject to an annual increase of 2%. We will confirm any change to the annual tuition fee to you in writing prior to you commencing each subsequent year of study (where applicable).
 

Application fee: Nil

Deposit: £2,000 (usually paid within 1 month of receiving offer and non-refundable unless conditions of offer are not met)
 

First instalment: Half fees less deposit (payable during on-line registration which should be completed at least 5 days before the start of the Induction period)
 

Second instalment: Half fees (paid in January following start of course)

Career pathways

The largest proportion of our students go on to the graduate entry schemes of major firms of chartered surveyors in the UK, going through the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence to become qualified professionals.
 

The others go into a very wide range of employers and roles – with smaller niche agencies, fund managers, developers, investment banks, lending banks, public agencies, rating agencies, research companies, not to mention setting up their own businesses. Many will go on to professional qualifications outside real estate, such as Chartered Financial Analyst Institute.
 

Around half our students come from outside the UK, many of them take up jobs in other countries with the boost that a degree from Bayes, accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, is a widely recognised and highly valued qualification world-wide. And they will generally find Bayes real estate alumni already there to form the base of their professional network.
 

Class of 2020 profile

Recent graduates from the MSc in Real Estate degree have secured positions in companies including:

• Analyst - Operational Capital Markets - Savills

• Property Manager - Property Management - Colliers International

• Graduate Surveyor - Retail - CBRE

• Graduate Trainee Surveyor - Development - Grainger

• Investment Analyst - Investment & Capital Markets - Lendlease.
   

Connecting with employers

• From week one, we host recruitment visits from all the largest real estate employers – like CBRE, JLL, Cushman Wakefield, Savills – plus other firms in real estate fund management, development, finance.

• Our real estate specialists in the Bayes Careers Service hold contacts with businesses across the industry, and will notify you of job opportunities as they come in through the year.

• You will have un-matched opportunities to network with professionals and employers across London’s vibrant real estate industry at seminars and an annual conference run by our students’ Real Estate Club, and through our mentoring scheme which matches you up with a Bayes graduate, and through industry events outside Bayes.