Real Estate MSc
Key information
Duration: 12 months
Attendance mode: Full-time
Fees: £26,800 (more information)
Location: Bunhill Row
Start of programme: September 2024
Application deadline: Rolling applications
Entry year: Showing course information for 2024
Learn directly from senior industry experts, active researchers and sector leading guest speakers
Overview
Real Estate MSc Who is it for?
This master’s is for you if your goal is to succeed in real estate, in the UK or internationally, and across the residential, commercial or industrial property sectors. You may be a recent graduate from any subject (with the equivalent of a UK upper second degree), or currently working in finance or real estate, or looking for a career switch.
You already have an interest in real estate and some experience with quantitative methods. Now you’re ready to build your skills and industry connections to develop your career.
If you have a strong background or interest in quantitative methods please take a look at our MSc Real Estate Investment – you can apply for both and we will suggest which will suit you better.
Why choose this course?
Connect with professionals and employers from London’s thriving real estate industry.
Through seminars, our students’ Real Estate Club, our mentoring scheme and industry events.
Course objectives
On the Bayes Master’s in Real Estate, you’ll develop the essential skills for a successful real estate career: valuation, financial modelling, market analysis, development appraisal and cash flow modelling.
Choose our more UK-focused path, covering law, applied valuation and taxation, if you want to join the graduate-entry programmes of chartered surveying firms and take the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence. Or, if your ambitions lie in investment, finance, development or outside the UK, choose a path that focuses more on development and planning, investment vehicles and portfolios, or international markets.
Both paths are underpinned by robust academic theory, quantitative methods and practical experience. You’ll learn from highly experienced staff and industry professionals, who provide you with the latest industry techniques and practical tools.
I chose Bayes due to its strong international and financial reputation. Financial literacy is increasingly important in the real estate industry and compared to other programmes that I’d looked at, the MSc in Real Estate, offered a stronger focus on finance.
Toward the end of my MSc, I secured a place on a graduate programme at JLL, a world-leader in real estate services. I am still with them today and I have progressed to the role of Senior Surveyor in the Central London Development Team. Now working in the industry, I see how much I learnt and got out of the experience both professionally and personally.
- Harriet Walke-Arnott
Teaching staff
Course director Alex Moss is also the Director of the Real Estate Research Centre at Bayes and Course Director for the MSc Global Finance online course. He has previously held senior roles with Macquarie, Apax Partners, CSFB and BZW. Currently he's Chairman of the Research Committee of the European Public Real Estate Association and runs a consultancy business advising institutions on their listed real estate strategies. He has authored numerous industry publications and academic papers.
Alex teaches on the Indirect Vehicles and Portfolio and International Real Estate Markets modules.
Other teaching staff and moduels they teach on
Dr Mark Andrew a quantitative analyst with over 20 published papers in highly ranked journals and several governments commissioned reports on his research speciality in residential markets.
Stephen Lee an internationally recognised academic, who sits on the boards of the European Real Estate Society and the International Real Estate Society. He has published over 100 papers which break new ground in the field, mostly looking at investment risks and returns, asset allocation and portfolio construction.
Bill Rodney one of the most experienced teachers of appraisal in the country, with a specialism in the use of spreadsheet models. Bill also runs Executive Education and professional skills courses for surveying and investment businesses all over the world – which give him a unique insight into the techniques they use and skills they need.
Professor Sotiris Tsolacos an academic with years of practical experience. Previously a Henley Business School and with posts at JLL and Property Portfolio Research/Costar from 1999 to 2013. He is a co-author of the standard textbook on real estate forecasting.
Sotiris teaches on the Economics and Market Analysis module.
Christopher Bourn has more than 25 years' real estate experience, including private equity, investment banks and property company investor developers, with coverage in the UK and Pan European markets. Also a consultant and teacher of Excel based real estate CPD accredited training courses
Course content
The first term covers the portfolio of core real estate professional skills – quantitative methods in data analysis, valuation, investment, asset management and understanding real estate markets.
In the second term, our two core modules, applied appraisal and financial modelling, will expand on and apply the core real estate principles and methods you studied in the first term.
Your second term module choices provide two learning “pathways”.
If your aim is to join the graduate entry programme of the major UK real estate employers and take the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence, you can pick modules that tilt toward UK-specific topics in law, taxation and applied valuation. If you aim to work in fund management, finance, development or outside the UK, you can tilt toward development and planning, investment vehicles and portfolios or international markets. Either way, your choice will not pre-determine the jobs available to you.
Course structure
Programme content is subject to change. We regularly review our module offering and amend to keep up to date and relevant.
Induction weeks
All of our MSc courses start with two compulsory induction weeks which include relevant refresher courses, an introduction to the careers services and the annual careers fair.
Term 1
Principles of Appraisal
A module to set out the financial principles and core techniques used in valuation, cash flow modelling and investment decisions, which underpin the rest of the course. You will learn how to value a building, how to use forecasts to model future cash flows and investment returns.
Applied Data Analysis
To assess real estate markets and investments you will need skills in data analysis and business statistics. The module, from a base no higher than middle-school mathematics, shows you how to manipulate data and apply statistics to answering practical questions like measuring the return and risk on investments and using a basic regression model to explain market trends.
Asset and Fund Management
The management of real estate is critical to the success of all businesses. This module looks at issues like the role of real estate in firm strategy, cost control and benchmarking, layout and working practices which are critical for both occupiers of space and property owners who provide the space.
Economics and Market Analysis
A course in economics is standard for all Business School students. Here you will learn not only those general economic principles but also how they apply to real estate: what determines rent in different places, how differences in rent shape the skyline of our cities, why real estate development notoriously swings from boom to bust.
Term 2
Applied Appraisal
Shows how the principles and basic methods covered in Term 1 are extended to cover specialist property types like pubs and hotels, and are used in negotiations between landlords and tenants to decide terms for giving up, extending or transferring leases.
Financial Modelling
Real estate is often financed with a mix of equity and debt. Here you will learn the cash flow modelling techniques which underpin the use of senior, junior and mezzanine debt packages, and how to measure their impacts on the returns and risks of investment, with ample use of case studies and hands-on computer classes.
Plus any two of the following:
Applied Valuation and Taxation
Examines the statutory aspects of appraisal in the UK. Rating law and procedures, and taxation, particularly capital gains and value added tax, are also studied in depth.
Landlord and Tenant Law
Provides a sound knowledge of legislation and case law affecting the commercial property market in order to enable students to apply the legislation when undertaking valuations and appraisals of such premises.
Investment Vehicles and Portfolios
The module first covers the main forms of real estate investment – direct, unlisted funds and listed companies – to develop an understanding of the structures used in the capital markets, and their performance. It then examines the approaches used by investors and fund managers to set investment objectives and structure portfolios to meet those objectives.
Development and Planning
A development is like a new business start-up, with a sequence of high-risk steps to go through – planning, design, financing construction, letting, final sale. The development module shows how those steps are managed, the valuation and cash-flow appraisals that drive development, with a case-study and hands-on modelling approach.
Term 3
Business Research Project
The last block of your course, the Business Research Project (BRP), is the one you design and build for yourself. It takes the form of a report of around 8,000 words submitted in August. We see the BRP as your opportunity to have a showpiece which shows potential employers what you know, what you can do, your ability to produce good-quality individual work.
BRP's come in the full range of forms. To give a few examples:
- Some are mostly about technical methods (a forecasting model for London offices, REITs and asset allocation in the USA)
- Others review trends and prospect in specific real estate markets (like housing in Hong Kong, investment in Africa)
- Or look at topical questions (like the impact of e-tailing on real estate, sustainability and building values)
- Or look in-depth at specific development projects (Kings Cross in London, a resort in Montenegro).
Term 3 Electives
In term three, you also pick a set of three elective topics from around six modules specific to real estate plus a range run by other Bayes Masters programmes – some of them taught on trips to locations outside the UK. So you can focus on:
- Added core real estate topics like building management, sustainability, residential markets.
- Or on the investment aspects of the industry like REITs, real estate funds and portfolio construction.
- Or pick up on more general topics such as private equity and project management taught by experts from other Bayes programmes.
Electives offered in 2023
- Corporate Restructuring
- Ethics, Society and the Finance Sector
- Hedge Funds
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Private Equity Investment
- Advanced Modelling and Risk Analysis
- Building Project Management and Procurement
- Real Estate Fund Management - Amsterdam
- Residential Investment
- Sustainability in Real Estate.
International electives
- FinTech (taught in Italy)
- International Real Estate Markets (taught in Dubai, UAE)
- Investment Strategy (taught in New York, USA)
- Project Finance and Infrastructure Investment (taught in Madrid, Spain).
Please note that electives are subject to change and availability.
Download course specification:
Real Estate MSc [PDF]Assessment methods
Term dates
Term dates 2024/25
- Induction: 9th September 2024 - 20th September 2024
- Term one: 23rd September 2024 - 6th December 2024
- Term one exams: 6th January 2025 - 17th January 2025
- Term two: 20th January 2025 - 4th April 2025
- Term two exams: 21st April 2025 - 2nd May 2025
- Term three - international electives: 5th May 2025 - 16th May 2025
- Term three: 19th May 2025 - 4th July 2025
- Term three exams: 7th July 2025 - 18th July 2025
- Resits: 11th August 2025 - 22nd August 2025
- Additional resit week - tests only: 25th August 2025 - 29th August 2025.
Timetables
Course timetables are normally available from July and can be accessed from our timetabling pages. These pages also provide timetables for the current academic year, though this information should be viewed as indicative and details may vary from year to year.
Please note that all academic timetables are subject to change.
Fees & funding
UK/Home/International fee
September 2024 entry
£26,800
MSc
Tuition fees are subject to annual change.
Deposit: £2,000 (usually paid within 1 month of receiving offer and non-refundable unless conditions of offer are not met).
First installment: Half fees less deposit (payable during on-line registration which should be completed at least 5 days before the start of the induction period).
Second installment: Half fees (paid in January following start of course).
Scholarships & bursaries
Scholarships, sponsorships, loans and other funding could support your education at Bayes Business School.
Learn about the cost of living as a Bayes student in London.
Scholarships
We have a range of scholarships for Master's degrees at Bayes Business Scool. Most scholarship applications for 2024/25 year of entry will open in January 2024.
View our scholarships and fundingOther funding opportunities
Scholarships are very competitive, you may wish to look other options for funding, including the government PG Loan.
View other funding optionsSponsorship
Students on the course who are sponsored in full or in part by their employer will need to complete a sponsorship form as part of the application process.
View our sponsorship guidanceCareers
Your MSc in Real Estate opens up a broad range of careers connected with real estate. You could join the graduate entry scheme of a major UK chartered surveyor. Or find a role at a smaller agency, fund manager, developer, investment or lending bank, public agency, rating agency or research company. Recent graduates now work as analysts, property managers and surveyors all around the world, or have set up their own businesses.
You’ll get specialist support from the Bayes Careers Service, who have contacts with businesses across the industry. They arrange recruitment visits from the largest real estate employers and send regular job alerts.
Class of 2022
Recent graduates have secured positions such as:
Job Titles:
- Graduate Product Manger
- Graduate Surveyor
- Business Development Manager
- Credit Analyst
- Asset Manager
- Data Analyst
- Junior Investment Analyst
- Real Estate Analyst
Employers:
- CBRE
- Knight Frank
- Savills
- Investec
- Revantage
- Hines
(Data provided from alumni who completed the annual destination data survey for 2021/22)
Download our latest MSc Employment Report
Recent employers
Alumni stories
Entry requirements
- A UK upper second class degree or above, or the equivalent from an overseas institution.
- Work experience is not a requirement for this course.
English language requirements
If you have been studying in the UK for the last three years it is unlikely that you will have to take an English language test.
If you have studied in the UK at degree level for less than three years (e.g. 3+1, 2+1, 2+2, etc.) you will be required to provide the results of an approved English language test and possibly resit the test to meet our academic entry requirements.
Full list of approved English language tests/qualifications and minimum requirements.
Apply
Please see our Application Guide for details of the documents you will need to supply as part of your application, and other useful information.
We cannot comment on individual eligibility before you apply. We can only make a decision on your application once it is fully complete, with all requested information received.
Frequently asked questionsTerms and conditions
Students applying to study at Bayes Business School are subject to City, University of London's terms and conditions.
Student life
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London is continually ranked as one of the 'Best Student Cities' in the world to study within (QS, 2019).
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