Dissertation Proposal
Introduction:
When it comes to investment, it is more common to seek commercial properties and thereby causing a higher spread of sustainability in commercial properties as opposed to residential properties. With sustainability growing mainly within the commercial property sector, it’s no wonder that its ability to become a mainstream approach is fairly at a slow rate. Would an increase in sustainable residential property investment speed the becoming of sustainability as a norm?
I am interested in exploring the effects of an increase in the investment of sustainable residential property and the possibility of increasing awareness and popularity of a sustainable residential property. Studies and research conducted will focus mainly on the UK market.
Aim
The aim of this dissertation is to provide research exploring the effects of increased foreign investment, within residential properties in London, on the growth of sustainable properties.
Present information available
The importance of sustainable developments is linked mainly to the environmental aspects of the built environment. Literature surrounding the issue of sustainability within the property market have recognised the importance of it as well as the key benefits of sustainable development. Literary works such as ‘State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?’ by The World Watch Institution have studied the effects of sustainability within the built environment drawing upon the facts of business reputation and the importance of energy efficiency. An article dating back to 2012 in the Property Observer by Chris Lang has stated the five main reasons for serious property investors to seek commercial property rather than residential, those include the fact that with commercial property, the investor can ensure greater security and payment certainty with the tenants being mainly businesses with longer leases and offering less hassle than residential tenants when it comes to attending to property issues. My focus on the literature provided will include journal articles from The Journal of Sustainable Real Estate, and books that focus on sustainability in property markets and real estate investments such as ‘Real Estate: The Sustainable Investment: Strategies for the Next Generation’ by G. Sweeney and J. Gordon (2011), ‘Sustainable Property Development: A Guide to Real Estate and the Environment’ by M. Keeping and D. Shiers (2003), and many others. However, there is a lack in information concerning sustainable residential properties and their effects within investors and the spread of sustainable properties.
Key question
What impact does an increase in foreign investment in residential properties in London have on sustainable development?
Research objectives
- To examine the possibility of barriers foreign investors may face when dealing with residential property investment
- To explore the strategies used by real estate investment companies to overcome such barriers in order to encourage foreign investors
- To gather historical and current data on tenant demand of sustainable properties vs. unsustainable properties
- To analyse the role of sustainability in investors’ decision-making
- To explore the types of foreign investors
- To analyse the speed of growth of certified residential sustainable developments.
Methodology
Research conducted will include quantitative and qualitative measures, which will aid the answering of the main research question. I shall conduct interviews with investment companies such as CBRE and Emerging Property in order to gather information about the possibility of barriers foreign investors may face when dealing with residential property investment and their strategies to overcome such barriers. The interviews will also be examining foreign investment and information on investor types and their portfolios, whether the sustainability factor plays any role. Quantitative part of the research would mainly be statistical information from BREEAM regarding data of certified residential sustainable developments through the span of 5 years, in order to examine the speed of sustainable growth. Also, I shall attempt to gather information on tenant demand from real estate agents such as Savills and Foxtons regarding sustainable residential property vs. non-sustainable residential property.
The first part of the dissertation will focus on the theoretical aspect of research conducted and literary works read. The second part will take on a qualitative approach, as it will focus on the analysis of the research conducted from interviews, with an addition of quantitative information regarding tenant demand statistics and the growth of certified residential properties. An evaluation and conclusion would follow where the main research question will be answered.
Timetable
May | June | July | August | September | ||||
Proposal | 12th | |||||||
Further Reading | ||||||||
Research and data analysis | ||||||||
Dissertation Draft | 10th | |||||||
Editing and Review | ||||||||
Dissertation Deadline | 1st | |||||||
Statement on Research Ethics
Ethical issues that might rise would include the access to company records and information on investors that deal with those companies. Information collected may include specific profit gains to such investors and figures on how much they are willing to invest/have invested. These may be considered as sensitive/confidential information. To overcome such issues, names will not be mentioned and figures would be mentioned as a close approximation or average.