Editorial

Citation

McGreal, S. (2010), "Editorial", Journal of European Real Estate Research, Vol. 3 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jerer.2010.35903aaa.001

Editorial

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

The global financial crisis has served to emphasise the complex inter-linkages that exist between property markets, financial markets and the economic performance of countries. The impacts of the crisis have arguably been more apparent in Europe than any other region of the world and with very slow recovery in the euro zone in the final quarter of 2009 coupled with major concerns over the economies of several countries in the EU, it is apparent that the effects will influence markets for some considerable time. A key message stemming from the crisis has been the importance of placing increasing resources into research and using our knowledge on market behaviour, performance and cycles to much greater effect.

The Journal of European Real Estate Research (JERER), through its association with the European Real Estate Society, provides an important vehicle for disseminating the outcome of original research on property markets in Europe and adding to the knowledge base of the subject. JERER now in its third year of production is increasingly recognised as having the potential to be a leading journal in the analysis of property markets. In this respect, it is most pleasing to see over a ten-fold increase in the number of downloads between 2008, the first year of publication, and 2009, the second year of the journal, indicating both the quality of papers published and the growing maturity of the journal. While JERER has a clear connection with European real estate, the readership of the journal is international with the greatest number of downloads by country being from Malaysia, followed by the UK, Sweden, Australia and the USA. Given the crisis in capital markets, it is interesting to note that the most downloaded articles in 2009, all had an investment flavour: risk and return in European property markets (Lorenz and Trück), the capital structure determinants of REITs (Morri and Beretta), the impact of sustainability on the investment environment (de Francesco and Levy), and risk diversification in a real estate portfolio (Giannotti and Mattarocci). This issue of JERER is very much in keeping with this agenda and embraces papers dealing with European office markets, valuation accuracy and segment structures in Iberian property markets.

The forthcoming Annual Conference of the European Real Estate Society in Milan will provide the opportunity for potential authors to meet with members of the Editorial Advisory Board of JERER. Please take this opportunity to discuss potential papers that present the findings of cutting edge real estate research with members of the board. Also, a key feature of the journal is a commitment to publish papers that link research with developments in education practice. The current issue of the journal includes a paper on the role of assessment in managing student diversity. The European Real Estate Society as the leading organisation in Europe is in the forefront of promoting developments in real estate education on an international basis.

Stanley McGreal