Special issue on valuation, part II

Citation

French, N. (2012), "Special issue on valuation, part II", Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 30 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpif.2012.11230baa.001

Special issue on valuation, part II

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Volume 30, Issue 2

In the last 12 months, the Journal of Property Investment & Finance has returned to its routes. Thirty years ago, the journal started its existence as the Journal of Valuation initially under the editorship of Andrew Baum and latterly myself. It is sobering that we have now been serving the property profession for that long, providing a forum for academic and pragmatic debate in the area of property investment, finance and valuation. What is interesting is how, over that period, the nature of the papers have crystallised in groups and topics reflecting the importance of those areas of study/practice at different times in the cycle. Initially, it was valuation in the early 1980s then property as asset class in the late 1980s alongside innovation in financing vehicles. Themes that repeated in the 2000s. Recently, we have had a plethora of papers on REITs and again on valuation.

In this issue we present a second special issue in the last calendar year on valuation, in addition to the Valuation Colloquium papers in Volumes 4/5. So why is valuation so important now in a downturn? Maybe it is because the world needs transparency and a greater understanding of valuations. At the start of the last boom, the then president of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Barry Gilbertson (RICS, 2004) said:

Globalisation, increased levels of cross-border economic activity and the emergence of global clients are driving international standards in accounting, banking and valuation. International Valuation Standards will improve transparency and so secure sound financial services in the public interest.

That proved to be correct but it is when the market changes that professions look at what went wrong and navel gazes to see what new standards and regulations can be put in place to mitigate against the worst excesses of a boom market. The original Red Book (RICS, 1976), the post Mallinson revisions of the 1990s (RICS, 1995) and the introduction of the RICS Valuers’ Registration Scheme in 2011, all arose in the downturns following the respective bull markets. And so it is with the papers in the Journal of Property Investment & Finance. The topics reflect the importance of the topics at that point of time.

It is with that background that we present a second special issue on Valuation ranging from topics such as sustainability, German valuation methods and leasehold valuations. Each paper presents an interesting view of the respective sub-topic and, by so doing, adds to the continuing debate. The Journal of Property Investment & Finance is proud to be a forum for such discussion and it looks forward to continuing is role over the next 30 years.

Nick French