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The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the level of professionalization of the real estate broker's occupation in Victoria, Australia, and Sweden. As previous studies have indicated that the real estate agent occupation in both regions is experiencing low levels of trust, an analysis of the level of professionalization is warranted.

The data used in the analysis in this paper have been gathered from a number of different high-quality sources. In Sweden, information has been obtained from the Swedish Real Estate Agents Inspectorate, the Association of Swedish Real Estate Agents and the Swedish Real Estate Agents Association, and Real Estate Statistics. For the Victorian case, information has been obtained from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, which is the leading professional body in organizing real estate agents. Furthermore, information has also been sourced from the Business Licensing Authority as well as Consumer Affairs Victoria. The focus of the analysis has been on the institutional changes of the real estate profession, including the education required to become an agent, the legislation and supervision of real estate agents and the role of the professional bodies that organize the real estate agents. 10;

The analysis shows that both the real estate brokerage market in Victoria and Sweden could be characterized as mature. Using the definition of a profession from Millerson (1964), the authors conclude that the brokerage industry has a number of the characteristics of a profession such as a long albeit interdisciplinary education, strong professional bodies, code of conduct and some level of self-regulation.

This research examines two countries, both considered mature in their house market process. Findings may be very different if the research methodology was applied to house markets that do not exhibit the same level of regulatory control.

Even though the real estate occupation can be considered as a semi-profession, there is still room for improvement when it comes to how consumers perceive the trustworthiness of real estate agents. Therefore, the professional bodies ought to strive to find ways on increasing the status and trustworthiness of the profession. These could include increasing the transparency as well as continuing education for its members.

Users of real estate services need to have confidence in the skills and expertise of real estate agents they engage. The magnitude of the monies associated with real estate transactions should cause users to seek out agents who are proficient in what they do, and to this end, the professionalism of agents is critical to the provision of accurate and informative information to guide users toward positive and beneficial outcomes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes and compares the development of the real estate profession in Victoria and Sweden, using theories from the study of professions.

This paper examines the effects of non-professionals' involvements in real estate service provision on real estate agency practice in Ibadan Nigeria, in order to provide information that could enhance real estate agency practice in the country.

Data were gathered through questionnaire administration on a total sample of 232 respondents comprising 82 estate surveyors and valuers, 100 non-professional estate agents and 25 real estate agency service consumers each from the respective clients of the two groups. A respondent-driven sampling (RDS) technique was adopted for data collection and was particularly useful in accessing non-professionals with characteristically less identifiable organizational structure. Data were analysed using mean scores on a Likert type scale while Spearman rank correlation was used to compare and establish if significant differences exist between the perceptions of clients of professionals and non-professionals on the services provided.

This study revealed that while the involvement of non-professionals in real estate agency practice deprives professionals of opportunities for legitimate earnings and is attributed to incidences of fraudulent transactions in the market, non-professionals often also serve as facilitators of transactions for the professionals. Hence, there seems to be a symbiotic relationship between the two groups and also a tacit validation of the involvement of the former by the latter.

This work contributes to and extends the body of knowledge on non-professionals' involvement in real estate professional practice by providing insights into the effects of activities of individuals who are not members of the real estate profession on real estate agency professional practice, particularly in the context of an emergent and less transparent market.

This article identifies the concept of market value as a standardizing concept that coordinates the actions of market participants in relatively inefficient real estate markets. The paper also identifies different levels of discourse that reflect the organizational/institutional complexity of the real estate appraisal profession. The standardizing effect of market value includes a cognitive and fiduciary component. Using this framework, the paper traces the influence of Richard T. Ely’s institutional economics – and its legacy in the form of the research program of Urban Land Economics at the University of Wisconsin – on the formation and development of the standards of appraisal and ethical practice. This complexity is traced historically from the early part of the 19th century to the formation of the professional organizations and the establishment of their standards, and also through a series of reform efforts in the 1960s and 1980s that were articulated in the academic community. The paper illustrates the manner in which Institutional Economics has been influential in the continuing development of the real estate appraisal profession and suggests reasons for its continuing relevance.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesise the plethora of research that has been conducted into the relationship between sustainability and market value in real estate, by critically analysing the research and the applicability of sustainability and value research in valuation practice.

The research on the relationship between sustainability and market value in real estate is examined from the perspective of its usefulness to the valuation profession in providing guidance, information and evidence to be used in valuation practice.

Existing research conducted into the relationship between sustainability and market value has not provided the valuation profession with evidence which would allow the incorporation of normative theories on the value of sustainability in valuation practice. This review highlights the lack of evidence, and the applicability of current research into sustainability and value to the valuation profession in providing guidance and information in valuing real estate incorporating sustainability.

This paper highlights the limited applicability of research to date in regard to the relationship between sustainability and market value for the valuation profession. The lack of historical evidence, data or information on the quantifiable effects on market value of this new trend (sustainability), leaves the valuation profession uncertain as to the relationship between sustainability and market value. There is a probable risk of valuers interpreting strategic research incorrectly, and making inappropriate adjustments or comparisons because of their lack of knowledge and limited sustainability assessment skills. Although there is an evolving body of knowledge, there is a need for extensive analysis of unbiased, evidence‐based research in individual and broader markets to provide guidance, evidence and knowledge of the implications of sustainability in the valuation of real estate.

The examination of research investigating the relationship between sustainability and value from a valuation perspective provides an alternative insight into the applicability of current research in valuation practice. The increasing profile and role of sustainability in the real estate sector needs to be addressed in valuation practice; however, the variety of research to date needs to be interpreted by valuers in the correct context. This paper brings to light the applicability of sustainability and value research for the broader valuation profession, and the potential implications of misuse or misunderstanding of that research.

The study seeks to identify and document definitional challenges that hamper the delineation of the scope of real estate as a discipline and as an industry. Through literature review the article distils the perception of body of knowledge (BOK) of real estate within the academia. Two main issues are flagged up: the problem of undefined BOK and the collegiate dilemma. Later the study looks at the standard economic classification documents to capture the occupational domains of real estate professionals or real estate activities. These steps are necessary to help define an alternative academic, practical and social meaning of real estate that is sufficient and precise.

The study uses literature review and, as primary method, qualitative document analysis (QDA). The study has made a special appeal for the application of qualitative strategy in real estate research other than following the methodological orthodoxy of quantitative causal research designs. Further, it has argued for the recognition of QDA as a legitimate research method in the context of real estate studies. Consequently, the study performed QDA procedures on international economic classification standards.

From literature review and QDA, the study identified five definitional problems in the meanings or understandings of real estate: undefined body of knowledge, collegiate dilemma, inadequate classification of real estate occupations, inadequate industry classification and inadequate economic sector positioning. These are aspects that lead to misconceptions of the true boundary of knowledge in society and in the academia. The paper offers clarity and insights for the redrawing of these boundaries to give real estate its rightful place in the academia and in the real world.

The article follows up on the academic and social misconceptions on the BOK of real estate as a discipline and an economic activity domain to identify the contribution of real estate to the welfare of mankind. Ontology or the organization of academic or social knowledge is used to map out or catalogue real estate against competing domains and to show that the role of real estate is grossly understated and misunderstood. From the findings, the study makes recommendations to university curriculum developers, and international organizations like ILO, and UN-DESA to revise their conceptions of real estate to give the discipline its rightful position in society.

The real estate industry is an important sector of the Singapore economy. Real estate transactions are not only getting larger in numbers in Singapore but also involve increasingly huge sums of money. Unfortunately, some real estate agents have also recently been found guilty of unethical practices in Singapore. Sets out to examine the expectations of ethics in real estate agency practice in Singapore. Surveys real estate agents and their clients on their expectations of ethics in property transactions. Draws conclusions pertaining to ethical expectations from the results of this fieldwork.

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze the occupational life cycle of Swedish real estate brokers.

Voluntary turnover among real estate brokers could lead to occupational turnover and/or employee turnover and has been described as problematic by both practitioners and researchers alike. Most previous studies focusing on this issue have explored connections between real estate brokers' personality, economic and market conditions and turnover. Employee turnover involves shifting jobs within the profession (real estate brokerage), whereas occupational turnover concerns movement to a job not related to the real estate brokerage profession. Both perspectives on turnover are however lacking data about the average time spent as a broker. This study fills this gap by exploring real estate brokers' life cycle through data analysis using a cohort study consisting of a sample of 5,304 real estate brokers registered and/or deregistered over a ten-year period from 2010 to 2019.

The analysis show that the decline is almost linear, resulting in 50% of the newly registered real estate brokers remain in the occupation eight years after registration. These findings are not in line with previous assumptions as the real estate brokers' life cycle is substantially longer. The results also reveal that there are differences in life cycles due to gender and year of registration.

The analysis of longitudinal, aggregated data on the life cycle of real estate brokers is highly relevant as it serves as a point of reference for future longitudinal studies analyzing the motives for leaving the occupation.

This paper aims to investigate and compare both real estate agents and their service consumers' perception on ethics of real estate agents in Nigeria; an emerging economy with less organized and transparent property market.

The study adopts a survey approach to research. Using Bartlett et al.'s model of determining sample size, a total of 125 firms were randomly selected from the list of registered real estate consultancy firms in Lagos metropolis. For each firm contacted (through business addresses), three service consumers were randomly selected from their archives of consumers. Questionnaires were personally administered and retrieved with useful response rates of 70 per cent and 75 per cent for real estate agents and service consumers respectively. Data emanating from the survey were analysed using frequency distribution and ANOVA analyses.

Among other findings, the results indicate that both real estate agents' and consumers' ratings of ethics of real estate agents is average on a five‐point Likert scale. Furthermore, real estate agents' self perception of the five year trend in their ethics was positive, albeit with a strong belief that commercial consideration should take precedence over an ethical stance in a real estate transaction.

In spite of the uniformly high self‐perception of agent ethics, most practitioners in real estate agency consultancy believe that commercial or economic considerations are more important than an ethical stance in a real estate transaction. This raises a serious fundamental issue about the essence and practical understanding of ethics by practitioners and what ethics entails in the discharge of their professional duty.

The paper complements the existing body of literature on real estate ethics by providing an empirical assessment of real estate agents in an emerging economy.

This study aims to investigate the influence of socioeconomic characteristics as well as organisational profile as predictors of the organisational and career commitments of real estate employees in the employment of private estate surveying and valuation firms.

A total of 333 closed-ended questionnaires were administered on estate surveyors and valuers practicing in private real estate firms in Lagos State, Nigeria, out of which 124 (37.2%) were retrieved and found suitable for analysis. The data were analysed using frequencies, percentage, mean rating, one sample t-test and ANOVA.

The findings showed that though the male real estate employees rated a higher level of organisational commitment than their female counterparts, the female employees showed a higher level of career commitment. Besides, the results showed that across both genders and on an overall basis, there was a significant relationship between career commitment and organisational commitment. Also, while demographic factors such as age, management level and professional qualification have a statistically significant relationship with career commitment, factors relating to marital status, academic qualification, management level and firms’ year of the establishment were statistically significant with employees’ organisational commitment.

The study deepens the understanding of the influence of demographic and firms’ correlates in explaining the performance of real estate employees in Nigeria, an emerging African market, where issues of absenteeism, poor remuneration and low retention appear prevalent.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt at examining the influence of demographic variables on the organisational and career commitment of real estate employees in Nigeria.

This paper aims to examine the skill requirements for the practice of corporate real estate management (CREM) in Nigeria.

Questionnaires were distributed to 270 practising estate firms in Lagos State, Nigeria, 145 final year students of Estate Management in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria as well as corporate real executive officers of the 24 recapitalised commercial banks, 21 insurance and five GSM communication companies in Nigeria. A total of 260 questionnaires (58 per cent) were returned and found useful for the study. The study adopted the descriptive method of percentages, mean and proportion method for analysis.

The study found that in rank order, the skill requirements for CREM were financial performance skill, investment in corporate strategy, productivity skill, space efficiency management skill and customers and employees' management skill. The mean figures for the five factors are 5.0, 4.8, 4.8, 4.73 and 4.67 respectively. The results of the analysis also showed further that the portfolio efficiency skill had a mean value of 3.58 and was rated by the respondents as the least skill required for corporate real estate management.

Limiting the scope of the study to CRE executives and practitioners in selected service industry and students of a university might pose a great challenge to the representativeness of the findings.

The study has major implications on real estate education and practice in Nigeria. There is an urgent need to overhaul the university/polytechnic curriculum to incorporate business and accounting knowledge to prepare real estate graduates for efficient practice and the continuous re‐training of practitioners to prevent future declining real estate profession.

The negative implication of joblessness arising from unemployable graduates of real estate by corporate organisations breeds more social vices.

The paper documents the requisite information needed for developing contemporary policy on real estate education in the country. It also serves as a guide for real estate practitioners and regulatory bodies for developing contemporary real estate practice to meet emerging trends in CREM practice and for relevance in the practice of CREM as an evolving sub‐discipline of estate management.