Editorial

Citation

McGreal, S. (2016), "Editorial", Journal of European Real Estate Research, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 122-122. https://doi.org/10.1108/JERER-05-2016-0020

Diversity in real estate research: reflections on the contribution of the Journal of European Real Estate Research

The Journal of European Real Estate Research (JERER), in terms of its recent origin, is often seen as “the new kid on the block” across the collection of real estate journals. However, now into its ninth volume, the Journal is maturing and proving to be the journal of choice for many authors seeking a publication outlet for their research. JERER attracts a diversity of authors, many from academia but with an increasing number from practice and the wider real estate community. This is a welcome feature and serves to widen the scope of real estate research within Europe, one of the primary goals of the European Real Estate Society (ERES). In this respect, recognition as the official journal of ERES has been extremely important in the development of the Journal.

The diversity of authorship is also apparent in the wide scope of papers published by the Journal. Unlike other journals in the real estate field, JERER publishes papers across all themes relevant to real estate and does not seek to limit publication to particular sectors of the market. Likewise the Journal values qualitative papers equally to those with a more quantitative flavour. The one restriction that the Journal imposes is that articles must have a direct and explicit connection to European real estate research; however, this does not exclude comparative papers providing the relevance is well articulated.

The current issue of the Journal reflects this sentiment capturing research across a wide spectrum. Indeed, the first paper on cross-country business cycles, stock market and real estate cycles reflects the role of comparative analysis spanning the major industrialised economies represented by the G7 countries. The paper finds that real estate is important in influencing the relationship between cross-country business cycles and cross-country stock market cycles. The second paper, on corporate sustainability reporting, also embraces a comparative dimension, within Europe, concluding that while all major property companies in Europe embrace sustainability principles, only around half of these companies had undertaken any independent assurance as part of their reporting process.

The other three papers in this issue have a more country-specific focus. Papers three and four have a UK dimension but again reflect the diversity of real estate research. The former is concerned with indirect and public listed real estate through a consideration of the performance of UK REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio. The paper finds that since the Global Financial Crisis, REITs have contributed strongly to UK mixed assets portfolios across the risk spectrum. In the fourth paper, the focus is again on diversification, but in this case, it seeks to explore whether economic distance or geographical distance leads to lower rental growth coefficients in office markets. The fifth paper provides a change in tone by focussing on housing and in particular whether housing related tax windfall gains or losses has resulted in disequilibrium in the Irish housing market.