Real Estate Research Rises at BYU

PROVO, Utah – Sep 2, 2010 – While the housing market continues to struggle, the amount of real estate research produced at Brigham Young University is on the rise. BYU has been named one of the top 10 U.S. universities researching real estate in the last 10 years according to an article published in the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics.

"It is gratifying to see this kind of recognition alongside other great universities around the world for our real estate scholarship and programs," says Steven Thorley, Marriott School finance department chair. "With the outstanding faculty and students that come to the Marriott School, we expect to continue improving."

BYU was ranked ninth among domestic universities for the number of pages its current faculty members published since 1999 and 30th worldwide for research conducted since 1973. The article noted that while some university's rankings are falling, in the last decade BYU's have increased dramatically.

The data for the rankings was compiled from three major specialty journals: Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Journal of Real Estate Research and Real Estate Economics. These rankings evaluated the competitiveness of each university based on the amount of research carried out by current faculty members as a team.   

"Recently faculty members have shown greater interest in researching this area," says Barrett Slade, associate professor of finance and a real estate expert. "Real estate is a different type of financial asset, so attention is increased as more data becomes available."

Besides faculty in the Marriott School, professors from BYU's economics and statistics departments have published work in these top real estate journals, contributing to the university's rankings. 

Some of the topics researched at BYU include: the price of real estate for out-of-state buyers, equality of loans, valuation and taxation of multifamily housing, and the impact tax-deferred exchanges have on purchase prices.

"We hope our research goes toward increasing the body of knowledge in our discipline and ultimately toward benefitting our students," Slade says. "A top ranking translates into more graduate school opportunities for our students as well as better placement."

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, and entrepreneurship. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.