Industry

The sale of or a lease of commercial real estate is usually facilitated by an intermediary who charges a fee (office, industrial, retail, multi-family)

• Investment sales
• Leasing
  • Tenant representative (working with tenants, often retailers, to find suitable space for expansion)
  • Landlord representative working with owners of existing buildings or new developments to find tenant

Improving land for higher and better use through feasibility analysis and project management

• Land development involves converting undeveloped land to subdivided land for commercial, residential and public uses and the construction of related infrastructure
• Vertical development involves the construction of residential, commercial or mixed use structures

 Accounting firms, market research firms, real estate consulting firms

• market analysis, financial analysis, 3rd party services for a developers, investors, government sector - opportunity to use big data to better understand local real estate markets (e.g., who shops where)

Professional valuation services

• Most sales and virtually all financings require 3rd party appraisal services
• Assessment appeals
• Provincial assessment authorities

Managing the real estate held by a corporation to support its core business

• Research suggests that up to 40% of a corporations balance sheet may be in real estate assets

(Banks, Credit Unions, Insurance Companies, Private Lenders, brokers, Bay Street - MBS and CMBS)

• Permanent Lending
• Construction Lending
• Equity (Funds)
• Mortgage Brokerage (intermediaries)

Managing a rental property for its owner(s)

• in house for investors or on a fee basis for 3rd party managers

• Pension funds invest globally and increasingly in commercial real estate

• Research, analysis and implementation of urban and rural public policy at the local, regional, provincial and national levels

Managing the investment of real estate

• Institutional (e.g., pension funds, insurance companies)
• REITs or REOCs (usually public real estate companies)
• Private investors and partnerships

With experience build your own portfolio - few industries offer the opportunity to build a business.

Real Estate Product Types

The industry is diverse and consists of: retail, office, residential-for-sale, residential-for-rent, mixed use industrial, hotel, leisure, land development/subdivision

Areas of Change and Opportunity

• Implications of 360 degree retailing
• Distribution and warehousing systems
• Solving the 'last mile' problem

• Monitoring and interpreting markets (shopping, home buying, leasing)
• Evaluating shopping patterns
• Data Centres

• Brokerage (residential and commercial)
• Lending (on-line commercial lending)
• Project management