Real Estate Development MSc

Undergraduate Open Day 23 November 2024/ Postgraduate Online Open Day 26 February 2025

Real estate is a dynamic, sociable and high-earning profession. It encompasses most areas of commercial (industrial, office and retail) and residential property.

The RICS accreditation will enable you to take the Professional Assessment of Competence after a period of suitable employment. When you enrol on this course, you’ll be entitled to register for RICS student membership and access training as part of the CPD Foundation. This, coupled with the relationships with other professional bodies and our alumni, gives you access to some excellent networking opportunities with city and suburban property firms.

Upon graduation, you'll find employment opportunities in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Previous students have undertaken roles in property development, valuation, law, finance and investment, as well as property management for major property firms, such as Cushman and Wakefield, Savills, Knight Frank, as well as other property development and consultancy companies within Greater London and surrounding areas.

With a growing global network of 3,000 employers, our Careers and Employability Service is here to support you in achieving your full potential.

• Develop your CQ
  Develop your cultural intelligence – or ‘CQ’ – by studying alongside students and staff representing more than 100 nationalities.
• Meet leading employers
  Our Annual Property and Construction Careers Fair attracts leading employers, which in 2019 included CBRE, Mace, Barratt Developments, Savills, Carter Jonas and Grainger.
• Develop your network
  Our relationships with professional bodies and our alumni give you access to excellent networking opportunities.

Industry links

Our course was designed with input from a range of industry professionals and to retain currency and relevance, we receive ongoing feedback from the School’s Employability Advisory Board. Current members include practitioner representatives from the multinational construction, property and infrastructure company Lendlease, commercial property experts Chase and Partners, and CABE.

We are proud of our excellent industry links with a host of property companies, large and small, together with key professional bodies, including RICS, CIOB and CABE. They enable us to host a highly successful Annual Property and Construction Careers Fair, which in 2019 attracted 40 employers, including:

• CBRE
• Mace, JLL
• Barratt Developments
• Bouygues UK
• Savills
• Carter Jonas
• Grainger

Immensely popular with our students, the fair provides a unique opportunity for them to meet with leading employers in the property and construction sector, learn first-hand about their organisations, secure work experience or receive guidance from a panel of speakers on the graduate scheme application process for some of the larger employers.

Job roles

This course will prepare you for roles in major property companies and advisory practices, including:

• Property development
• Valuation
• Commercial/residential agency
• Property consultancy
• Property investment
• Investment/asset management
• Corporate real estate/facilities management

Graduate employers

Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including:

• Savills
• Cushman and Wakefield
• The British Land Company
• Montagu Evans
• Countryside Properties
• Chase and Partners

Westminster Employability Award

Employers value graduates who have invested in their personal and professional development – and our Westminster Employability Award gives you the chance to formally document and demonstrate these activities and achievements.

The award is flexible and can be completed in your own time, comprising a set of core and optional extracurricular activities.

Activities might include gaining experience through a part-time job or placement, signing up for a University-run scheme – such as mentoring or teaching in a school – or completing online exercises.

The aim of the course is to provide you with a detailed understanding of the property development and appraisal process, encompassing valuation, financial, physical, legal and social aspects. You'll analyse development situations and respond to particular development problems with derived solutions. You’ll also enhance your capability to critically appraise options and independently evaluate alternative courses of action. There are seven core modules, including the dissertation, and one option module.

Depending on your choice of option modules, you can tailor your studies towards valuation, legal or property finance and investment, learning more about procurement surveying, how to raise capital, take financial decisions or deal with banks and investors.

The mOdules below are indicative of what you will study in this course. You will take modules totalling 180 credits.

Semester 1

In the first semester, you'll study subjects including property and planning law, valuation and finance with examples from real case scenarios. Industry guest speakers will complement lectures delivered by the course team, and student activities will include site visits and work on property development and finance projects that will bring together skills newly acquired as part of your learning process.

Semester 2

In the second semester, you'll be given the opportunity to register for an optional field trip to an international property market destination (subject to an additional cost). In the past, for example, students travelled to New York to study urban regeneration and real estate development in midtown Manhattan and the surrounding areas. They visited some of the major development firms, the city’s business department, business improvement districts and one of the world’s largest new developments at Hudson Yards.

To complete the course, you need to choose a research topic, conduct empirical research and produce an academic dissertation. Previous students have, for example, considered the impact of Crossrail on house prices in outer London boroughs, analysed the shortcomings and alternatives to the Help to Buy Scheme (HTB) and the impact of tenant rights on the residential property markets in the UK and Germany.

Core modules

• Asset Management
• Dissertation/Project
• Law for Property Professionals
• Property Development
• Property Finance
• Property Valuation
• Sustainability and Real Estate

Option modules

• Applied Valuation
• Landlord and Tenant
• Planning in Practice
• Property Investment Portfolio Analysis