In this post, we focus on the importance of methods and concepts to aid new ideas and discussion. Natural sciences often place emphasis on positivist
How can you Value the Built and Natural Environment? Cost-Benefit Analysis
[2000 Words; 20 Minute Read] There are forms of market failure due to external costs and benefits that need to be calculated and internalized to
Read MoreHow can you Value the Built and Natural Environment? Cost-Benefit Analysis
Housing Affordability Determinants
[1100 Words; 4 Minute Read] “Decent, affordable housing is fundamental to the health and well-being of people and to the smooth functioning of economies” (Woetzel
Critical Realism as a Research Philosophy – Enlightened Common Sense?
[1200 Words; 10 Minute Read] In order to frame research within a particular philosophy a critical realist approach can be taken, especially to gain a
Read MoreCritical Realism as a Research Philosophy – Enlightened Common Sense?
Why will Globalisation prevail? The enduring forces and enablers
[1000 Words; 5 Minute Read] In discussing globalisation, the term can be described as the convergence of markets, economies and ways of life across the
Read MoreWhy will Globalisation prevail? The enduring forces and enablers
Housing Development and Design in Cities
Introduction [3000 Words; 23 Minute Read] The last few decades globally has seen a move away from seeing housing design as part of the development
The Economics of Water – Cost, Price and Value of a ‘Free’ Natural Resource
[1500 Words; 10 Minute Read] This article looks at ‘environmental resource’ issues in connection with water. We look at ‘externalities’ as the third-party costs and
Affordable Housing – a Community Reinvestment Solution?
[2000 Words; 15 Minute Read] Policy in affordable housing supply is responding to the challenge of housing markets where unaffordability prevails. Often measured by high
The Open Economy and Sustainable Cities
[100 Words; 10 Minute Read] In addition to the more localised economic mechanisms that operate in urban areas, the wider open economy will shape how
Financing Affordable Housing Development – Mechanisms that are Weighted and Blended
[1000 Words; 10 Minute Read] This post looks at what “Weighted-Blended” Finance Mechanisms are the most appropriate framing to consider the financing of affordable housing
Socially Responsible Property Investment (SRPI) – Practice, Priorities and Behaviours
[2000 Words; 20 Minute Read] In examining the effectiveness of the investment practice known as ‘Socially Responsible Property Investment’ (SRPI), funds and developers make special
The Problem with an Economic Valuation of the Environment
[1500 Words; 10 Minute Read] The valuation of external costs and benefits will be difficult but necessary if the full cost or benefit to society
The Economics of Choice and Opportunity Cost in Development
[2000 Words; 15 Minute Read] Choice is an important element in economic thinking if there are scarce resources and infinite wants. Urban areas that are
Case study research – using case studies by geography
[800 Words; 5 Minute Read] Research methodology often incorporates case studies, and it is important to outline case study epistemological merits and limitations. Firstly, the
Project Feasibility Given the Time Value of Money: Discounting and Net Present Value
Time and Discounting [2500 Words; 20 Minute Read] For major project feasibility and decision making, if cost and benefit items have been identified and valued,
Financing affordable housing development – What types are there?
[3500 Words; 20 Minute Read] It is important to improve understanding of how cities can be better financed to meet affordable housing challenges over the
Public Private Partnerships (PPP) – A win-win situation?
[1000 Words; 5 Minute Read] A Public Private Partnership (PPP) is a public service or private business venture that is funded and operated through a
The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) – Paying for Public Goods with Private Money
[2000 Words; 10 minute Read] The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is defined as a form of procurement to encourage private investment in public sector projects.
Housing Affordability and Tenure Change – Generation Rent
[500 Words; 2 Minute Read] Housing affordability as a rental tenure issue has become an increasingly debated area. Particularly as Haffner and Boumeester (2010) argue
Economics and Sustainable Urban Development
[1200 Words; 4 Minute Read] Concern over climate change and a focus to improve and protect natural resources and improve ecological health have been promoted
The Built and Natural Environment According to Economists – The Early Years.
[3100 Words; Reading Time 24 Mins] Ideas, concepts and theories are developed from intellectual thoughts that are of importance when studying urban and environmental economics.
Policy Transfer: Why do we see the same ideas and practice around the world? – 5 Key Aspects
[1300 Words; 10 Minute Read]. The post explores what is involved and could be considered when transferring policy from one context to another. At the
Socially Responsible Property Investment (SRPI) – An Introduction
[1500 Words; 20 Minute Read] This article introduces an understanding of the use of Socially Responsible Property Investment (SRPI) in urban development. Urban development and
Financing urban development
[5,000 Words; 30 Minute Read] The use of bonded financial mechanisms such as Tax Increment Financing (TIF) can lever renewal within a wider policy framework.
Research Projects – Full Archive List
Squires, G., and Tommaso, G. (2020). The United Nations – Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat), the University College of London (UCL). Innovative governance modalities for urban
Research Reports – Full Archive List
Squires, G., and Susnjak, T. (2020). Machine Learning for Real Estate and Housing Markets. The Property Foundation Squires, G. (2020). The use of housing charges
News Articles – Archive Links
NEWS ARTICLE CONTRIBUTIONS I take a public engagement approach and have been interviewed over 50 times by the media on property-related issues. Recent media outputs
Banning foreign house buyers won’t have much effect – Massey professor
Article in National Business Review (NBR) exploring the foreign house buyer ban, Overseas Investment Act All regions showed a drop in affordability over the year.
Read MoreBanning foreign house buyers won’t have much effect – Massey professor
Rotorua house prices increasing the most in New Zealand
Newshub article on house prices For more than a year, the advice to Aucklanders struggling to buy a home was to move out of the
Read MoreRotorua house prices increasing the most in New Zealand
Home affordability drops for Kiwis by almost 10 per cent, report says
Article in TVNZ Television New Zealand on Housing Affordability Home affordability has plummeted in many regions across the country over the past year, according to
Read MoreHome affordability drops for Kiwis by almost 10 per cent, report says
Renter pain continues as New Zealand rents jump 25% in five years
Article on New Zealand Herald on Housing Affordability and Tenure It’s further bad news for renters with prices across New Zealand climbing steadily in the
Read MoreRenter pain continues as New Zealand rents jump 25% in five years
Build-to-rent apartments must not become slums, property specialists warn
Article in Stuff exploring Build to Rent with colleague David White Property specialists at Massey University caution that mass rental housing like apartment blocks need to
Read MoreBuild-to-rent apartments must not become slums, property specialists warn
Build to rent: the pros and cons
Article in RNZ relating to a series of industry seminars that myself and colleague David White ran on Build to Rent in New Zealand As
A PhD on Housing Markets and Regeneration. 10+ years on with Download
Time flies when you are an academic. 10+ years ago I completed a PhD from the University of Manchester (UK), that predominantly focused on exploring
Environmental Impact Assessment
Here is a lecture I did a while back on Environmental Impact Assessment
International Real Estate Development Book Promotion
Book Promotion at Delft, Netherlands. International Approaches to Real Estate Development
Webinar: How property pivots in a post-Covid-19 world
An online event I hosted on how property pivots in a post Covid 19 world. Note the lockdown beard for future self.
Brains are for having ideas, not storing them
Building a 2nd Brain and Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) In the new pedagogical landscape, I am looking at the limits of teaching and learning as
Don’t vote! It only encourages them: Party Votes and Turnout by Electorate
In the lead up to the New Zealand 2020 election it is worthwhile having a look at what proportion of people bother to vote. Here
Read MoreDon’t vote! It only encourages them: Party Votes and Turnout by Electorate
Housing Affordability in the Regions as Trajectory Regressions – If you are into this kind of thing.
I did some work looking housing affordability trajectories in New Zealand’s regions. All very techy, but essentially evidencing how 4 clustered regions have converged in
How to win an Election: New Zealand 2017 Analysis
Here we find some initial analysis that I’ve done looking retrospectively on the 2017 election in New Zealand. Its thrown up some interesting aspects that
No surprises: Wages haven’t kept up with runaway house prices. Some evidence.
Over the last few years, I’ve spent some time looking at and engaging with the affordability debate. For New Zealand, it is a significant but
Read MoreNo surprises: Wages haven’t kept up with runaway house prices. Some evidence.
Playing with QGIS: What were Land Values worth in Auckland 2017?
Fast forward 36 years and we see the land value of sales in Auckland’s districts skyrocket. Auckland city at median land value of $500,000 (previously
Read MorePlaying with QGIS: What were Land Values worth in Auckland 2017?
Playing with QGIS: What were Land Values worth in Auckland 1981?
In playing around with QGIS for another project I’ve mapped Auckland district median land values as of 1981. Auckland City land values at a mere
Read MorePlaying with QGIS: What were Land Values worth in Auckland 1981?
Gazing into the Crystal Ball: Machine learning to predict house prices
Here’s an excerpt from on recent research project on Machine Learning for Real Estate and Housing Markets… “…Here we consider all 21 national-level indicators and
Read MoreGazing into the Crystal Ball: Machine learning to predict house prices
An ‘innovative’ framework for comparing real estate development
Approaches to international comparative analysis of real estate development can be used to bring out some comparisons in case study sites. Key layers and mechanisms
Read MoreAn ‘innovative’ framework for comparing real estate development
What are the motivations for energy efficient refurbishment (EER)?
Owner-occupier motivation is multifaceted and complex. It is the precursor to energy efficiency refurbishment (i.e. action) and to encourage a greater uptake such refurbishment better
Read MoreWhat are the motivations for energy efficient refurbishment (EER)?
Mapping Financial Risk and Housing Trends in New Zealand: towards ‘freer’ in a largely free market?
For New Zealand, at a national scale housing policy trends have encouraged market engagement given its high proportion of residential ownership, with social housing provision
Regional house price (sales) trends 2010-2017. An acceleration in Auckland and Central Otago Lakes
Here’s an excerpt from a recent Journal Paper where we see An acceleration in Auckland and Central Otago Lakes since 2013 Median house price trends
2 Decades of Auckland Median House Prices 2000-2019
Within a current Machine Learning project we start with a baseline look at how house prices have changed over the last 2 decades. Here we
Read More2 Decades of Auckland Median House Prices 2000-2019
A Covid-19 Pandemic Retrospective: Activity being generated in the Real-estate Sector over the volatile period during the COVID19 in New Zealand
The graph depicts the year-on-year percentage changes of the amount of economic activity being generated in the Rental, Hiring and Real-estate Sector over the volatile
State Housing New Zealand
Great stories piece on State Housing in New Zealand. Only 4% of total stock but has been an essential part of the fabric since 1906.
Housing affordability – can we put the housing wealth genie back in the bottle?
Editorial for Journal of Property Investment and Finance https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JPIF-02-2020-141/full/html
Comparative House Price Index
Interesting house price index from The Economist post GFC
Data Visualisation
This data visualisation talk is really good Especially the interesting budget visualisation, demonstrating the enormous relative impact of the GFC
Referencing Techniques
Software to help with referencing is a good way to build up and manage your own dataset of articles. Here are a couple of good
PropTech – where to start
A really useful starting point in understanding the PropTech field is from the consultancy-university report authored by Andrew Baum at Oxford University https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2018-07/PropTech3.0.pdf
House price affordability, the global financial crisis and the (ir)relevance of mortgage rates
https://doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2019.1643777
Online Survey Methods
When using online survey methods, two useful software products are Qualtrics and Survey Monkey. Basic techniques for analysing the findings are also available in the
What is Research?
‘Research’ is a term that covers a multitude of activities, but in one way or another they are all about finding things out. At one
Technical analysis using NVivo
For quantifying and analysing qualitative data I tend to use NVivo. Here’s a link to the software page: https://www.qsrinternational.com/nvivo/nvivo-products
2 years on: Is the Housing Affordability crisis still a crisis?
Here’s part of an article I wrote for the main online NZ media outlet stuff.co.nz on housing affordability prior to the 2017 election… Talk of
Read More2 years on: Is the Housing Affordability crisis still a crisis?
Book Promotion – International Real Estate Development
https://youtu.be/UZnoOuMwupM
Towards Financial Risk and Housing Policy Trends
Institutions providing access to housing in all tenures have become further entrenched and exposed to financial risk. Literature on housing policy trends and financial risk
Resilience and housing markets: Who is it really for?
Ten years after the Global Financial Crisis, this research examines how resilience theory and rhetoric relating to the economy and housing markets has been translated into policy and
Read MoreResilience and housing markets: Who is it really for?
Crowdfunding real estate
In a journal paper we argue that Disruptive Innovation Theory indicates that there is disruptive potential of Real Estate Crowd-Funding (RECF). As an excerpt…”RECF seems
Improving water quality with rural land use policy: (re)balancing farmland regulation, intensification and financial viability
Policymakers in New Zealand are attempting to achieve improved environmental outcomes by implementing an output-based approach to non-point-source
My New Edited Book – Routledge Companion to Real Estate Development
Real estate development shapes the way people live and work, playing a
Read MoreMy New Edited Book – Routledge Companion to Real Estate Development
Home affordability declines in most New Zealand regions
The latest Massey University Home Affordability Report shows most regions of New Zealand have declined in affordability over the most
Read MoreHome affordability declines in most New Zealand regions
Central Otago Lakes has now Surpassed Auckland as the Most Unaffordable Region in New Zealand
The Massey Home Affordability Index takes into account the cost of borrowing as well as house prices and wage levels. This March quarter has seen
Rising House Prices Still Drive Housing Affordability Metrics
The Massey Affordability Index takes into account the cost of borrowing as well as house prices and wage levels. This December quarter has seen a
Read MoreRising House Prices Still Drive Housing Affordability Metrics
Financing infrastructure development: time to unshackle the bonds?
It is important to consider the merits of using projects bonds to finance infrastructure investment projects – in particular, the pricing of such bonds and the level
Read MoreFinancing infrastructure development: time to unshackle the bonds?
Innovative real estate development finance – evidence from Europe
This research provides an insight into large-scale real estate projects in Europe and how they are using
Read MoreInnovative real estate development finance – evidence from Europe
Methods and models for international comparative real estate development
Real estate development is a significant factor in planning the built environment. It shapes
Read MoreMethods and models for international comparative real estate development
Dysfunctional Neighbourhoods Exist: More Urban Regeneration Needed
Neighbourhoods within area-based initiatives that are engaged with regeneration and renewal often experience difficulties of poverty, disadvantage
Read MoreDysfunctional Neighbourhoods Exist: More Urban Regeneration Needed
The difference between property bonds and leases – and the consequences for healthcare.
There are some 487,000 places in long-stay residential care and nursing homes in the UK representing an
Read MoreThe difference between property bonds and leases – and the consequences for healthcare.
Innovative Development Finance in Europe
A critical review and analysis of innovative financial instruments for real estate development in Europe will be useful to EU and European national policy makers
Lessons in finance bonding for affordable housing
Can finance bonding be centred more on affordable housing as well as infrastructure? Some interesting nuances and lessons can be drawn when using a Tax Increment
Is Building Heritage in Enterprise Zones The Latest Threat or Opportunity?
In considering heritage for buildings within Enterprise Zones, the central premise has been focusing on economic growth, with less thought given to the wider structural and cultural
Read MoreIs Building Heritage in Enterprise Zones The Latest Threat or Opportunity?
Returning to Rousseau – Is there a Contract Between Citizen and State?
New forms of governance, conditional approaches to public service access, and initiatives to engage citizens in taking on new responsibilities
Read MoreReturning to Rousseau – Is there a Contract Between Citizen and State?
A housing numbers game? The new housing quality design challenge
The last 15 years has seen significant changes in the location, type, delivery and design of urban
Read MoreA housing numbers game? The new housing quality design challenge
Solutions to the housing crisis – Housing Associations in the Private Rented Sector?
How do housing stakeholders align future private and public spending to identify investment opportunities and help meet the City’s broader economic and spatial
Read MoreSolutions to the housing crisis – Housing Associations in the Private Rented Sector?
Future financing cities through planning and development
It is important to improve understanding of how cities can be better financed to meet challenges over the short and long-term; be they economic, social
Read MoreFuture financing cities through planning and development
Urban water economics – putting a value, price, and cost on natural resources
Environmental resource issues involving water need to consider third-party external costs (and benefits) – water pollution being one example. Natural resource economics can be applied to this issue and set in
Read MoreUrban water economics – putting a value, price, and cost on natural resources
Motivations for energy efficiency refurbishment
The existing housing stock needs substantial adaptation to meet national and international carbon reduction targets. The largest proportion
Community self-build schemes enabling holistic solutions for ex-servicemen
It is worth looking at the impact of community self-build schemes, especially as many have helped ex-service personnel rehabilitate
Read MoreCommunity self-build schemes enabling holistic solutions for ex-servicemen
Should developers pay for public goods and services ? The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
If the public purse is being squeezed we should start thinking about whether private resources should be used to fund public goods and services. When
Lessons need to be learned from Enterprise Zones and Empowerment Zones
There is a need to learn lessons when using spatially targeted fiscal experiments if intervention is to generate wider developmental benefit. For Enterprise Zone concept
Read MoreLessons need to be learned from Enterprise Zones and Empowerment Zones
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) as an urban policy for spatially targeted economic development initiatives
Urban policy transfer between the US and UK has long been of interest to researchers and practitioners. Given the recent wider context of reduced direct
Low Demand Neighbourhoods – Housing Market Renewal Experience
I completed a PhD from the University of Manchester (2009), that predominantly focused on exploring the drivers and dynamics associated with what I termed ‘low
Read MoreLow Demand Neighbourhoods – Housing Market Renewal Experience
Transcendental Meditation (TM)
I have been practicing transcendental meditation (TM) for nearly 2 years. It was one of the best decisions I have
Influential books #100 Companion to Real Estate Development Edited by Graham Squires, Erwin Heurkens and Rick Peiser
If you need a companion to understand real estate development this collection is the best around
Influential books #99 International Approaches to Real Estate Development Edited by Graham Squires and Erwin Heurkens
First class collection of real estate development literature, with an international framing.
Influential books #98 Building Procurement by Brian Greenhalgh and Graham Squires
Best there is if you are interested in procuring and building
Influential books #96 Economics and property by Danny Myers
Wonderful introduction to economics in the field of property from my old room mate.
Influential books #95 Urban and regional planning by Peter Hall and Mark Tewdwr-Jones
Textbook outlining the history and development of urban and regional planning
Influential books #94 In defense of housing by Peter Marcuse and David Madden
Arguing the case for housing as needing radical political and economic attention