This is a hybrid gateway course.  Some of the seats have been set aside for first-year bidding.

COURSE NUMBER: MBA280.1

COURSE TITLE: Real Estate Investment and Market Analysis

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units

INSTRUCTOR: Thomas Davidoff

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30AM - 11:00 AM

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL): http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/davidoff/280/2008

PREREQUISITE(S): None

CLASS FORMAT: Class meetings will consist mostly of lectures, but may also

feature discussions of ongoing projects by players in real estate development

and associated industries.  Problem sets will be assigned to reinforce

analytical skills.  We will discuss in some detail at least one real estate

investment case per week.  The final project involves identifying a site for

redevelopment, determining ``highest and best use'' and evaluating the

profitability of redevelopment.  There will be weekly review sessions with a GSI.

REQUIRED READINGS: Brueggeman and Fisher "Real Estate Investment Finance and

Investments," a reader consisting of articles concerning current trends in

the development and financing of real estate, and lecture notes on key

financial and economic issues covered throughout the course.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: 60% Final project, 30% exams, 10% class participation.

FACULTY AUDIO CLIP: Click here to listen to the instructor giving a brief overview the course.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES: The goal of this course is to give

students a deep and intuitive understanding of real estate markets.  The course

covers important financial, macroeconomic, and microeconomic issues in real

estate acquisition, development and management. We begin by relating real

estate pro forma investment analysis to the familiar concept of profit

maximization. We then describe each element of the real estate development and

financing processes and relate the key economic issues to pro forma

profitability analysis.  We will also highlight developments in the emerging

areas of ``green'' building, ``subprime'' lending, reverse mortgages, and instruments hedging real estate risk.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Thomas Davidoff is an Assistant Professor of Real Estate in the Haas School of

Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been teaching at UC

Berkeley since 2002. He earned his BA from Harvard. Professor Davidoff also

holds a Master in Public Affairs in Urban and Regional Planning from Princeton

University. He also holds a PhD in Economics and Urban Studies and Planning

from MIT. Professor Davidoff's research focuses on economic and financial

analysis of housing markets and the role of housing in investors' portfolios.