Michael J. Hefferan and Pamela Wardner
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, through the Delphi technique, how demand drivers and accommodation priorities for emerging knowledge‐intensive firms are understood…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, through the Delphi technique, how demand drivers and accommodation priorities for emerging knowledge‐intensive firms are understood and how corporate property and asset managers can respond to them.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical paper discusses the results emerging from a Delphi study in four rounds with ten experts. This research focuses on the high growth, commercial sector in south‐east Queensland in Australia.
Findings
The accommodation priority demands of knowledge‐intensive firms varied depending on the stage of their lifecycle, that is, start‐up, established or mature. For start‐ups, accommodation cost was of primary importance; however, for the established and mature firms, their priorities were directly related to those supporting the progress of the firms itself and the productivity of its employers.
Practical implications
Many of the findings are likely to be applicable to commercial environments elsewhere and would provide a basis for investors, developers, asset owners and managers to better align their “old” assets, through better asset management, to these “new” firms within this rapidly changing environment.
Originality/value
The use of the Delphi technique in this multi‐faceted research topic captures the practical knowledge, wisdom and intuition of experts who deal with such issues on a day‐to‐day basis. Most real estate issues usually involve diverse specialities and perspectives – this paper illustrates how common ground through consensus can be achieved.
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Michael J. Hefferan and Stuart Ross
This paper aims to identify changes occurring within the property professions and at the same time focus on the changing structures of the tertiary education sector in Australia…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify changes occurring within the property professions and at the same time focus on the changing structures of the tertiary education sector in Australia and how both of these will influence property/real estate education and research into the future.
Design/methodology/ approach
The paper reviews a range of published international material and conference papers mostly emanating from the Pacific Rim Real Estate Society (PRRES) a formal focus for property researchers, educators and practitioners from over 15 countries. Structured interviews with leading property academics were conducted along with the authors' direct involvement with the Australian Property Institute and their National Education Board.
Findings
There is a strong demand for tertiary/property real estate education, which will continue in Australia though with a likely wider base extending beyond the traditional valuation and analysis fields. However, given the significant emerging changes in the tertiary sector in Australia, certain universities will tend to focus in such specialist areas.
Research limitations/implications
It would appear that this is not a widely researched area outside the PRRES group. The findings, however, are sound and have important implications for education and research in this critical economic sector.
Practical implications
The findings should help better refine the academic offer and research initiatives developed by those individual universities as they seek to establish their market niche. Whilst this paper applies particularly to the Australian context, observations regarding changing demand will be of wider interest and assistance.
Originality/value
This paper for the first time considers the changing demand for real estate / property graduate courses and demands for research in this field against the backdrop of contemporary change in the tertiary sector in Australia.
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Michael J. Hefferan and Terry Boyd
This paper's aim is to examine how long established ad valorem taxation systems can be adapted so they remain relevant and equitable in the more complex contemporary property…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper's aim is to examine how long established ad valorem taxation systems can be adapted so they remain relevant and equitable in the more complex contemporary property environment.
Design/methodology/ approach
The research methodology involves a review of national and international literature and structured interviews with key informants from the public and private sectors, particularly Queensland, Australia, but also with the Valuer Generals and others of all mainland states and New Zealand.
Findings
Ad valorem taxation systems continue to provide an important and sound base for the raising of government revenue. While it is essential that the long‐standing fundamental techniques of mass appraisal be protected, a number of relatively simple modifications in policy and operational areas can enhance the effectiveness and robustness of the valuation systems.
Research limitations/implications
Despite its importance in the form of taxation in practically all countries, existing research is quite limited and largely descriptive rather than analytical. Limitations also exist because of the very significant variations in law across jurisdictions in Australia and internationally.
Practical implications
The findings can be readily applied in valuation systems particularly as regards the consideration of national markets for certain complex properties, proposals for the better sharing of information and the introduction of improved mediation processes in the case of objections. All of these can lead to more efficient and effective application.
Originality/value
Difficulties have been experienced in a number of jurisdictions where relatively simple valuation provisions are applied to highly complex property types. This paper provides some innovative ideas as to how, even within existing legislation, these problems can be addressed while protecting the well‐established, mass appraisal practices.
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Joanna Poon and Michael Brownlow
The aim of this paper is to identify the competency expectations for property professionals in Australia. It further discusses differences in competency expectations between…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to identify the competency expectations for property professionals in Australia. It further discusses differences in competency expectations between property professionals who have different professional backgrounds, such as valuers or non-valuers, and property professionals who work in different sectors or different-sized companies and who have differing amounts of experience. The competencies identified in this paper include knowledge areas, skills and attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the research findings of a questionnaire survey sent to Australian Property Institute members, which aimed to gather Australian property professionals' views on the knowledge, skills and attributes required to perform their roles effectively. The percentage of the respondents who provided different choices of given answers for each of the 31 knowledge areas, 20 skills and 21 attributes was identified and discussed. The professional backgrounds of the respondents were also identified to see whether these impact on competency expectations for property professionals. Content analysis was used to analyse written comments collected in the questionnaire.
Findings
The most important categories of knowledge, skill and attribute for Australian property professionals are valuation, effective written communication and practical experience, respectively. The least important are international real estate, second language and creativity. Knowledge of rural valuation is very important in Australia, although this has not been mentioned in previous studies. Professional backgrounds have a large influence on Australian property professionals' views on knowledge requirements, but less so on skills and attributes.
Practical implications
The findings of this paper can be used as guidance for property professionals in their professional development plan. In addition, property course providers can use the research findings of this paper to inform their curriculum development and redesign.
Originality/value
This project is the first to identify the comprehensive competency expectations of property professionals as a whole in Australia. At the same time, it identifies differences in the competency expectations of property professionals who have different professional backgrounds. Similar types of study have been conducted in the UK, the USA, Hong Kong and New Zealand but not yet in Australia. An understanding of the knowledge, skills and attributes required for property professionals is important for continuing professional development, curriculum development and the redesign of relevant property courses in order to maintain performance and competitiveness in the property sector.
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Rotimi Boluwatife Abidoye, Chibuikem Michael Adilieme, Albert Agbeko Ahiadu, Abood Khaled Alamoudi and Mayowa Idakolo Adegoriola
With the increased demand for the application of technology in property activities, there is a growing need for property professionals adept in using digital technology. Hence, it…
Abstract
Purpose
With the increased demand for the application of technology in property activities, there is a growing need for property professionals adept in using digital technology. Hence, it is important to assess the competence of academia in equipping property professionals with digital technology skills. This study, therefore, assesses property academics in Australian universities to identify their level of knowledge and use of digital technology applicable to the property industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Online questionnaire surveys were administered to 22 out of 110 property academics contacted through the Australia Property Institute (API) database to achieve this aim. The collected data were analysed using mean score ranking and ANOVA.
Findings
The study found that apart from databases and analytics platforms such as Corelogic RP data, price finder and industry-based software such as the Microsoft Office suite and ARGUS software, the academics were not knowledgeable in most identified and sampled proptech tools. Similarly, most proptech tools were not used or taught to the students. It was also found that early career academics (below five years in academia) were the most knowledgeable group about the proptech tools.
Research limitations/implications
Relying on the API database to contact property academics potentially excludes the position of property academics who may not be affiliated or have contacts with API, hence, the findings of this study should be generalised with caution.
Practical implications
The study bears huge implications for the property education sector and industry in Australia; a low knowledge and use of nascent tools such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, drones, fintech, which have received intense interest, reveals some level of skill gap of students who pass through that system and may need to be upskilled by employers to meet the current day demand.
Originality/value
In response to the clamour for technology-inclined property professionals, this paper presents itself as the first to assess the knowledge levels and application of digital technology by property academics.
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Joanna Poon and Michael Brownlow
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of students’ commercial awareness within the curriculum of professional accredited courses. The targeted area of study is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of students’ commercial awareness within the curriculum of professional accredited courses. The targeted area of study is the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) accredited property courses. This paper also discusses how the curriculum of RICS-accredited courses can be designed to successfully incorporate commercial awareness within them and suitable delivery methods for developing this within the curriculum. Commercial awareness is one of the most important employability skills, however, employers have expressed dissatisfaction with graduates’ performance in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the research findings of two sets of questionnaire surveys, as well as interviews and e-mail discussions with the course directors and current students of the RICS-accredited property courses in the UK. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the questionnaire data. Fisher’s exact test was used to identify the statistical significance between academics’ and students’ views on the development of students’ commercial awareness as part of the RICS-accredited property courses’ curriculum. Content analysis was used to analyse the texts in the questionnaire survey, interviews and e-mail discussions.
Findings
Academics and students involved with the UK RICS-accredited property courses agreed that commercial awareness is an important employability skill in the property sector and they mostly agreed on the definitions of commercial awareness, except in their “understanding of the wider business environment”. They also agreed that commercial awareness has three components: strategic, financial and process. Academics and students agreed that the commercial awareness components and process sub-components are largely incorporated into the curriculum of RICS-accredited property courses but they have divergent opinions on the level of incorporation of strategic and financial sub-components. A suitable way to deliver commercial awareness in RICS-accredited property courses is to incorporate it into the overall curriculum, ensuring that the components of commercial awareness are closely linked to the RICS APC and match relevant competency levels. They also commented that including practical experience in the curriculum is the most useful way to develop a student’s commercial awareness.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to discuss the development of commercial awareness in professional accredited courses such as RICS-accredited property courses and also identifies suitable methods to enhance students’ commercial awareness as part of the curriculum. The research findings can also be applied to other professional accredited courses that have a strong vocational focus, such as nursing, engineering and accountancy. These courses are usually accredited by relevant professional organisations and students studying these courses usually plan to embark on a career in a relevant profession. The design of the course curriculum has a strong focus on equipping students with the essential competencies to develop their careers within the relevant field.
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Joanna Poon and Michael Brownlow
The purpose of this paper is to identify the relative importance of the factors that influence the overall satisfaction of real estate students and also examine the extent to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the relative importance of the factors that influence the overall satisfaction of real estate students and also examine the extent to which demographic backgrounds affect this. Furthermore, this paper benchmarks the satisfaction of real estate students against that of built environment students.
Design/methodology/approach
The data used in this paper have been collected from the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) within the Australian Graduate Survey (AGS). Dimensionality reduction was used to prepare the data about the courses identified in the AGS for analysis. This was done in order to simplify classification of real estate and built environment courses examined in this paper. Descriptive and statistical analysis methods were used to analyse student satisfaction variables and identify the extent to which demographic factors influenced overall student satisfaction.
Findings
Real estate students in Australia have a relatively higher level of student satisfaction compared to built environment students overall, but built environment students have a higher level of satisfaction with regard to compulsory variables such as “Good Teaching Scale” and “Generic Skills Scale”. However, real estate students show a higher level of agreement in the Likert scale regarding the optional variables “Appropriate Assessment” and “Learning Community”, respectively. The most important factor for overall student satisfaction was the question: “the staff made it clear right from the start what they expected from the students”. The answers to this question had a Pearson correlation value of 1.000 for both real estate and built environment students. Age and mode of study also have some impact on the overall satisfaction level of both sets of students, while gender, degree class and the year the university were established are additional factors affecting the overall satisfaction of built environment students.
Practical implications
This research identifies the factors that affect the satisfaction of property course students in ascending order of importance. Course directors of real estate courses can use the findings of this research to make recommendations on the redesign and redevelopment of their courses in order to make them more attractive and appealing to students to enhance student recruitment and retention.
Originality/value
This is pioneering research that provides a comprehensive overview of the factors affecting student satisfaction with regard to real estate and built environment students in Australia.