The Real Estate concentration at the Haas School of Business offers students a strong theoretical training in finance and economics with a focus on real estate asset and capital markets. The purpose of the program is to train individuals for academic positions in real estate and finance and technical research positions in industry. The real estate concentration allows students to focus their creative energies in any of several rapidly advancing areas of structured financing, real estate corporate finance, contract design and pricing, real estate cycles, real options, and the structure and operation of the mortgage and housing markets.
Real estate concentration at the doctoral level is coordinated with
either finance or accounting. Students should indicate their co-major
field when applying. The usual course sequence for real estate will require
students to fulfill all the requirements of their co-major fields as well
as the Real Estate doctoral course and research seminar. Students co-majoring
in either accounting or finance are expected to obtain training in micro
and macro-economic theory, econometrics and statistics, basic finance,
and basic accounting as well as urban economics, local public finance,
and real estate finance. Students should bear in mind that they will carry
additional courseloads to accommodate the somewhat greater range of materials
required for understanding and applying research to real estate problems
and issues.
Students attend frequent seminars to gain exposure to ongoing research. Guest speakers are featured from other universities throughout the world. The finance group sponsors the Berkeley Program in Finance, which holds two conferences a year on current topics for finance academics and practitioners. The accounting group links students with the real world through an annual financial reporting conference, organized by our Center for Financial Reporting & Management. These provide a forum for doctoral students to assess the relevance of academic research in their fields of business practice.
Other opportunities for students to improve their research skills come from working with faculty on joint projects or as research assistants. Students can also teach. It is common for third- and fourth-year students to serve as teaching assistants and, occasionally, instructors for undergraduate accounting classes.
