Editorial

Citation

Lind, H. and Lundström, S. (2009), "Editorial", Journal of European Real Estate Research, Vol. 2 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jerer.2009.35902caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of European Real Estate Research, Volume 2, Issue 3

After two years of preparation was the 17th consecutive ERES Conference held in radiant sunshine at the beautiful campus of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Some 370 registered delegates presented 270 papers. Added to that was 25 papers, in different stages of progress, presented by doctoral students.

The conference did not have any one specific theme, but two broad questions were to the forefront; one was the financial crises the other was how to adapt the real estate sector to the climate change threat. These were also the topics for the two key note speakers at the opening section. Mattias Persson, Head of the Department of Financial Stability at the Swedish Riksbank, gave a detailed analysis of the current crisis and compared this with the serious financial crisis that hit Sweden in the early 1990s. Ray Cole talked about how classification systems for the “greenness” of buildings had developed and their role in the future.

The various classification systems for green buildings were discussed in several sessions and a conflict was seen between the need for international standardisation helping global investors and the need to adjust to local circumstances. The economics of green buildings were also a controversial subject.

The financial crisis set footprints in a number of areas. Several papers looked at how the financial crises affected housing markets in different countries. One interesting area was the effect on the crises on property valuation and evaluation of risk in property investments. It is now obvious that risks were underestimated but is there any way to avoid this happening again? The market did not seem to learn much from the last crisis so why should we expect that it will this time? Several papers discussed the need to broaden property valuation and also included discussion about the probability that the value will go up or down, based on historical trends.

Papers on property management were rather few and it will be interesting to see if this area will increase to the next conference. With less belief in financial innovation as a way to make profit, perhaps the day to day running of the property will come more into focus.

The ambition to attract professional practitioners to the conference was the one disappointing aspect. Of all the delegates only a handful came from the industry and international consultancy firms. One reason is that the financial crisis strikes hard against firms engaged in transactions. It could also be that the ERES industry seminars are more suited to the needs of the sector. A more speculative reason for the absence of the industry could be the “academization” of the university-based research with increased focus on publishing in journals with high-international status and less emphasis on implementation of results.

Conference organizer has been the Department of Real Estate and Construction Management at the School of Architecture and Built Environment, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (www.kth.se/abe/inst/fob?l=en_UK).

Hans Lind, Stellan Lundström