Editorial

Citation

French, N. (2000), "Editorial", Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 18 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpif.2000.11218daa.001

Editorial

Although we often run themed issues, sometimes the timing of the acceptance of the papers forms a theme of its own through synchronicity. In this issue, four of the six papers address issues relating to housing and residential investment, as does the Internet briefing. Residential investment is an area that has not been on the main research agenda in the UK for a number of years. There are many good and established researchers in this area, but the subject area has been a poor relation in the mainstream research literature. As witnessed in the paper by Stevenson, in this issue, portfolio analysis has viewed &#34"property&#34" purely in the form of commercial investments.

Interestingly, the UK is very different to other countries in this viewpoint. In the USA, the majority of property research has a housing bias and commercial property is viewed as the area of less import. While this journal has always considered papers which relate to residential property as an investment, the majority of submissions have reflected the market perception that the residential market is less important and have had a commercial slant as a result.

As Alan Collett states in his paper, since the late 1990s there has been a structural change in the private residential rented sector. This has led to the emergence of a true open market, altered investment criteria, and demographic and lifestyle changes have led to the creation of a multi-billion pound investment market. Investors, managers and valuers in the UK need to develop new skills and attitudes to adapt to these changed circumstances. One obvious area where these new skills can be learnt is to draw on the experiences and procedures used in the USA and other countries where this type of market has always been significant.

It is hoped that the Journal of Property Investment & Finance will continue to offer authors the opportunity to present papers of a high calibre in either field of study. The journal is a reflection of market perceptions and sentiment and, as in previous years, it will always present papers in areas that are topical and new. We hope that you enjoy the papers presented in this issue.

Nick French