Our Land Economy student Adam Tyrcha worked with leading Swedish property asset management group Newsec, to review the influence of external factors on the Swedish real estate industry. His project title was ‘Analysis of Influences on the Swedish Property Market’.
Adam’s case study report told us of the added value he gained towards his future career path, and how his report writing exceeded standard expectations:
“I chose to do my fellowship with Newsec as they are the leading property consultancy in Scandinavia, and because they have a dedicated research team that produces reports that interest me and add value to the real estate business as a whole. I have cited their reports extensively in my past degrees, as well as to a more limited degree in my PhD (owing to the academic nature of my research), and have always found these to be the best reports available for my purposes. Given the above, I thought it likely that Newsec would be the best property consultancy for me to conduct an fellowship with, given that my research is focused on property markets in Scandinavia, and found it likely that I would learn more applicable skills from them than from any comparable companies in Sweden or abroad. I was very happy to be able to assist them in the production of their reports, and hope to be able to continue doing so upon completion of my PhD.
The project constituted a comprehensive analysis of the various influences that exist on the Swedish property market, in collaboration with Newsec, Scandinavia’s leading property consultancy. This project was of interest to the social sciences as it combined the workings of the property sector with the broader influences that various external factors can have on it. This included the influence of socio-economic factors, such as migration trends, income disparities, gentrification, and the development and state of the labour market, as well as factors related to the environment and sustainability, including pollution, energy usage, weather conditions and more, on the broader property market as well as specific submarkets. Together, these factors meant that the project was applicable to the social sciences from a broad range of perspectives, allowing for an improved understanding of the relations between various externalities on property markets in Sweden and beyond.
The primary task was to produce report(s) regarding the influence of various externalities on the Swedish property markets. This was done to add value to the real estate industry, primarily through the answering of the following research questions:
- Which microeconomic and macroeconomic factors are most significant in their effects on various subsectors of the property market in Sweden?
- How do the influences that various externalities have on the residential sector differ from the impacts that these externalities are seen to have on the commercial sectors in Sweden?
- Do the factors considered in the previous two questions manifest to differing degrees in different Swedish submarkets?
- How does the impact of migration, perhaps the most commonly discussed factor in recent years, compare to the impacts of other factors and externalities? How does the impact of migration differ spatially and across property markets in Sweden?
The fellowship met and exceeded these aims. I was responsible for the production of a number of texts in one primary report, known as the Newsec Property Outlook, as well as a number of other texts and reports. In these I was able to touch on all of the above-mentioned research questions, primarily from the context of the residential sector, which is the sector that interests me most as it relates most to the content of my PhD. I was given relatively free reign to explore a number of different research avenues in order to find answers to the research questions listed above through my articles, although received appropriate and helpful guidance where appropriate. Due to the open-ended and evolving nature of many of the research questions I cannot say that I found conclusive answers to any of them, but I was able to contribute substantially to Newsec’s and the real estate industry’s understanding of the relationship between externalities and property markets.
The fellowship provided me with substantial “added value.” I was given a lot of responsibility and trust, under which I tend to thrive, and was thus able to produce reports which Newsec themselves stated exceeded their expectations, while also exceeding the ordinary quality and varying in content when compared to the standard reports that the company produce. As a result, I was able to learn new research techniques from Newsec, which I have been and will be able to apply both in my student and professional life going forward, while also adding value to the company through my provision of new perspectives and insights. Overall, I learned a lot about the real estate industry and property markets more generally, as well as different perspectives and lenses which these can be viewed from, which has helped me substantially with broadening the content and appeal of my PhD, both through the application of new research techniques that I hadn’t previously considered or been aware of, as well as in terms of contacts for the qualitative section of my PhD. Going forward, my experience at Newsec will also help me to make career decisions.
The fellowship taught me some new research methods, and gave me access to new data, that I will make use of in my PhD, thus elevating the quality of my PhD research. The fellowship also taught me a lot about the research world outside academia, and gave me an incredibly strong name and references to put on my CV, as well as allowing me to network within and outside the company, which is useful both in terms of the qualitative section of my PhD, as well as my future career. There is a high likelihood that I will be able to work for Newsec in the future, which would likely have been substantially less plausible had I not had the opportunity to complete this fellowship . Even if I do not end up working for them, I have learned a lot about the world of property and real estate consulting, which will help me make more informed career decisions going forward.”
Adam Tyrcha did his fellowship with Newsec from January to April 2018
Recent Comments