European real estate society (ERES) – providing forums for engagement

Citation

Kaleva, H. (2008), "European real estate society (ERES) – providing forums for engagement", Journal of European Real Estate Research, Vol. 1 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jerer.2008.35901caa.001

European real estate society (ERES) – providing forums for engagement

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of European Real Estate Research, Volume 1, Issue 3

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the final issue in the first volume of the Journal of European Real Estate Research. This journal is a great landmark for the European Real Estate Society’s (ERES’s) 15-year history.

The mission of ERES is to raise the quality, status and reach of real estate research and education in Europe. The society aims to fulfil this mission by providing different forums for constructive engagement by academic, private and public organisations within the real estate sector throughout Europe. ERES’s events – annual conferences, industry seminars and educational seminars – have established themselves as important events in the European real estate community’s agenda. This journal is another important media for disseminating the results of high-quality real estate research conducted throughout Europe.

Adopting a truly European perspective has increased in importance during the past few years of rapid internationalisation of the real estate markets. It has also supported ERES to develop to the leading European forum for researchers to interact and communicate their research findings for a truly cross-border audience. Engagement in and co-operation with national research communities, other European-level associations as well as international societies links us to the various levels of the wider international real estate research community. This European focus is something we want to promote also in the contents of this journal.

One of ERES’s main objectives is to bridge the gap between academia and private sector. In this respect we have been happy to see the increasing need for, and respect towards, high-quality research among the practitioners in the real estate sector. In the current, increasingly complex, business environment it is essential for business professionals to enhance and deepen the understanding of the various aspects of real estate markets beyond the traditional practical approaches. This also creates a fruitful platform for increased co-operation between researchers in the academia and private sector. The rapid development of the markets has a wide and deep impact on research, e.g. in terms of relevant focus areas, research topics, geographical coverage as well as approaches, methodologies and data used for research.

It is the research community’s great challenge to keep up with the development of the needs of the industry. Even more so, as the research conducted in the private sector has both increased in quantity and rapidly and continuously improved in quality during the past few years. From the research community’s point of view this means need for deeper understanding and continuous development of the practical implications of the research findings.

The research community’s challenges are ERES’s challenges. In order to create added value for our membership and other stakeholders, ERES is dedicated to continue to support the development of the relevance and reach of real estate research. We invite all our stakeholders to provide us with ideas and feedback in order to further develop our activities. We hope and believe that platforms like ERES do have an established – and increasingly important – role in enhancing the linkages between various players in the field of real estate research.

Hanna KalevaExecutive Director