• Real estate in a mixed asset portfolio
• Understanding the global real estate market – markets, sectors and investors and other stakeholders
• Drivers of risk and return across sectors
• Valuation principles
• Financing - capital structure decisions

• Interpreting data and their limitations in a real estate context
• Understanding the research process
• Critical reading of research literature
• Statistical and econometric tools for analysis
• Data issues in real estate
• Essay/dissertation writing

• Private real estate – strategy and objectives
• Structures, fees, governance and alignment
• Real estate debt, assessing loan terms and hedging strategies
• Global real estate strategies and implementation issues
• Valuations and investment performance measurement (pre and post-tax)
• Risk measurement in portfolios and managers
• Assessing and selecting private real estate managers/partners

• Discount rates, growth rates and yields
• Integrating debt finance and stressing cash flows
• Assessing rental income flows with different leasing structures
• Indexed and constrained index leases
• Scenario analysis

• Fixed interest securities
• Asset and mortgage backed securities
• Real estate securities and REITs
• REITs/real estate securities and the underlying market
• Analysis of REIT performance

• Development intro - Why develop?  Who involved?
• Urban planning – UK and international practice
• The development process
• Development appraisal
• Development risk management

The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) known as "Moodle" is a valuable teaching and learning resource and is the main means of communication between the course team and students throughout the two-years. 

Assessment is completed via the VLE and supplementary materials, such as slides used by presenters and links to useful websites, articles, and other resources are also made available through the VLE.

There are also forums for students to participate in discussions with each other and the course team, either generally or specifically about the assignments/dissertation.

All students who enrol on the Real Estate Masters Programme become full members of a Cambridge University College, which provides pastoral support within a collegial academic environment. Once a college member students remain a member of that college for life which includes some on-going opportunity to book accommodation, formal dinners and be invited to College and alumni events.

College life is an important aspect of the course and we believe that having students on the course together as members of a College helps contribute to a really positive ‘Cambridge experience’. However, if an applicant wishes to return to a College with which they have a prior affiliation, it may be possible to take this into consideration.

The college provides accommodation and also offers meals, although students often prefer to sample the many different types of cuisine available from the wide variety of restaurants and cafes in Cambridge, along with their course colleagues.

During the course both complimentary and optional formal dinners are held at the college and are again part of the Cambridge College experience and highly recommended.

As members of a college students have access to all the resources and facilities of the college, including leisure facilities, library, IT resources and common rooms.

General information about Cambridge colleges can be found here: http://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/colleges

The MSt in Real Estate has arrangements for all of its students to become members of Wolfson College and students will be invited to attend a Matriculation Ceremony at the College during the first residential.

We always seek to ensure each cohort is varied in work background, age/gender, and geographical location. Each cohort has approx. 18-20 students.

Each cohort has included people with real estate experience in one or more related areas and/or extensive experience in a particular area, such as an analyst for a global investment bank; a real estate investment manager for a major hotel chain; a project manager for a UK property development company wanting wider international knowledge; and a building surveyor wanting more financial expertise.

Students vary in age from 25 through to early 50s and come from a wide range of professional backgrounds:  analysts, lawyers, bankers, consultants, real estate specialists (e.g. leasing managers and hotel asset managers), surveyors, architects, project managers and investment managers. Female students make up at least 25% of each cohort.

Companies/organisations have included: Arup, CBRE, Deloitte, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, JP Morgan, JLL, Argent, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Savills, Hilton Hotels and Cadogan Estates as well as smaller private companies and consultants.

Many students bring international background and experience, and in recent years have represented 30 nationalities from around the world.

Applicants for this course should normally have a relevant UK first or good upper second-class honours degree or overseas equivalent. If your degree is not from the UK, please check the International Qualifications page on the University’s Postgraduate Admissions Office website to find the equivalent for the country in which you studied.

In addition, students joining the MSt course are expected to have a minimum of three years’ experience in a relevant professional setting, e.g. finance, investment, real estate, and the more general built-environment professions. In some cases, applicants may have a professional qualification in the discipline. They would therefore be deemed to have achieved an acceptable level of knowledge and skills to meet the entry requirements for the course.

Those applicants who do not meet the standard entry criteria but have alternative qualifications or experience and have the potential to bring valuable assets to the programme will be evaluated on an individual basis; such candidates may be required to provide further materials in support of their application.

Potential applicants are also advised to consider carefully their capacity for balancing personal and professional commitments before submitting an application.

If you’re not from a majority English-speaking country, you may need to submit evidence that you meet the University’s English language requirement before you can be admitted to your course. The following language tests, with the stated minimum results, can satisfy this requirement:

• IELTS Academic: Overall score of 7.5 (a minimum of 7.0 in each individual component)
   
• TOEFL Internet: Overall score of 110 (a minimum of 25 in each individual component)
   
• CAE: Grade A or B (with at least 193 in each individual element) plus a language centre assessment.
   
• CPE: Grade A, B, or C (with at least 200 in each individual element).

If you are not sure whether you will be required to supply evidence of fluency in English, please refer to the Competence in English tool on the Postgraduate Admissions Office website.

Those applicants who are subject to a language requirement are strongly encouraged to submit their language results with their initial application as failure to do so may delay the processing of applications.

You will need to provide the details of two referees who should be senior people acquainted with your work who are able to comment on your academic and/or professional suitability for the course. Ideally one reference should be academic and one professional; if this is not possible, two professional references may be accepted.

You will be asked to provide email addresses for your referees so that they can submit their reference via the online referencing system. It is therefore important for you to check that your referees are willing and able to provide a reference for you before you submit your application form. Please ask your referees to submit their reference using a professional or institutional email address as failure to do so may delay the processing of your application.

You should advise your referees to include the following information:

• How long they have known you and in what capacity.
• Their opinion of your experience, achievements, professional interests, and the capabilities which you will bring to the course.
• Whether they believe you have the academic and analytic skills to successfully study at Master’s level.
• Whether they believe you will fit well on a Master’s level course concerned with Real Estate, requiring both group work and individual research.
• Whether they consider you to have the enthusiasm, commitment, and determination necessary to complete the course successfully.

If your referees are unable to use the online referencing system, or do not have email addresses, please contact the Institute of Continuing Education MSt Admissions Office on mst.admissions@ice.cam.ac.uk for further assistance.

Applications for our MSt programme are reviewed in batches. Candidates may be interviewed (via video call) and offered places after these reviews. Given the desire to get a diverse mix of skills and backgrounds, final decisions on most applications are not taken until after the closing date for all applications.

We advise that applications are made as early as possible, particularly non-standard applications which are likely to take longer to process.

The Masters in Real Estate is conferred by the University of Cambridge as the awarding body and students graduate from the University of Cambridge.  Graduation is organised by the student's College. Students who successfully pass the course and graduate from the University are entitled to use the letters, ‘MSt (Cantab)’ after their name.

Most certainly. All students are required to matriculate in order to become a member of the University, which involves signing a formal declaration agreeing to abide by the Statutes and Ordinances of the University and College. Only by signing these documents does the student become recognised as a full member of the University and College.

The Colleges administer the formal processes, including matriculation (formally joining the University and College) and all students then attend a formal dinner, ‘the Matriculation Dinner’ to celebrate the more formal admittance to the University and College.

Absolutely, the course is designed for those working and living away from the University. The programme is modular and delivered through a combination of distance learning, a VLE and residential sessions. There are 7 residential weeks in 5 blocks (2 residentials of 2 weeks duration plus 1 of 1 week in year 1 and 2 residentials of 1 week in year 2). We arrange college accommodation for the duration of the residentials, which are focussed more on taught sessions, collaborative work, project work, site visits and supervisions. Self study, theoretical work and assignments can be done between the residential periods. 

Applications for the MSt in Real Estate are reviewed in batches throughout the applications cycle. Whilst applications are open until around May each year, we may be able to offer places and possibly fill all the places before then – so early applications are encouraged and advised, especially if you require a language test score.

You are required to complete a ‘Research Proposal’ as part of your application.  However, there is no need for a detailed proposal at this stage. There is no word limit, but just a couple of paragraphs (no more than a side of A4) is sufficient.

We ideally would like to see an interesting research question with some idea of what literature already exists related to the question and how you would go about the research e.g. what data you would need and where you might get it from and what methods you would use.  However, at this stage, all we need is an indication of ideas (that could be shaped into a more detail research proposal during the first year of the course) to illustrate your interest in doing research for this degree and that if invited for interview you can briefly talk about these ideas thoughtfully.   The course is designed to ensure students gain the necessary research skills rather than expect them to arrive with them all in place.

The MSt in Real Estate is a valid route to studying for a PhD Degree.  Students wishing to apply for continuation to the PhD would normally be expected to attain a minimum overall mark of 67% and dissertation 70%.