Real Estate Finance and Economics
Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School
HSBC Business School
Real Estate Finance and Economics Syllabus
(Spring 2011 First Module)
Course Basic Information
Instructor: Yu Zhou, Ph.D.
Instructor’s office: C314
Office hours: Monday & Thursday 15:30-16:30
E-mail: yuzhou@szpku.edu.cn
Date: Monday & Thursday 13:30-15:20
Location: all meetings at C124
Object student: economics and finance elective
Credits: 3
Teaching assistant: pending
Course Objectives
Real estate has been attracting more and more attention. This course is designed for students, either of general real estate interest or who wish a deeper understanding of real estate investment and financing. The course presumes basic knowledge of real estate finance at the undergraduate level, although some preliminaries might be covered at the first several lectures. The class will contain a mixture of standard lectures and case discussions. Students will need take notes during lectures and digest them afterwards. Textbooks are recommended for reference purpose, but not required. Topics of high level to be covered include (subject to adjustment): financing residential properties (mortgage loan, refinancing, homeownership decision, underwriting, etc), financing income-producing properties (leases, rents, appraisal, land value, taxation, etc), financing land development project, and alternative real estate financing and investment instruments (second mortgage market, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, TEITs, etc). I will try to pair standard textbook materials with recent industry reports, with the goal of marrying sound theory with relevant current events and practices.
Recommended Texts
Real Estate Finance and Investment, 14th edition, by William Brueggeman & Jeffrey Fisher, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010
Homework Assignments
There will be two homework assignments that should be done individually. You may discuss assignments in groups, but should write up your answers independently. Each time we find identical answer between several students, 10 points will be deduced from their final grades respectively.
No late homework will be accepted, so DO NOT bargain this with me.
Grading Policies
Attendance checks: 5 (10%)
Homework assignments: 2 (10%), one before the midterm, the other between two exams.
Midterm, in class (30%) – March 24, 2011 Thursday
Final exam (comprehensive) (50%) – TBA
If you decide to skip the midterm (no reason is required, but need inform me of your absence beforehand), your final exam will be counted 80% towards your final course grade, but you will have to work on more questions in your final exam given proportionally more time. You have to take the final exam in order to have a grade from this course. If you miss the final exam for a legitimate reason, you have to make up for it.
E-mail
We use pkusz.edu.cn email (or your personal email) as our basic communication tool, so I expect everyone to check their e-mail half-daily. Frequently, time-sensitive announcement will be distributed via email. Please be sure that you are on the distribution list for the class during the first 2 weeks of the course.
Academic Integrity
You fail the class if you plagiarize in your assignments or cheat in your exams/homework. Read the following link to make sure you fully understand what plagiarism is defined. If you still have question, feel free to stop by my office.
Show courtesy to your classmates and instructor by coming to class on time, turning off your cell phones, and not leaving the classroom during class time.