Knowingly taking risk

Investment decision making in real estate development

Auteur: Ellen Gehner
Proefschrift Delft University of Technology

Introduction

Real estate development is knowingly taking risk. A real estate development project starts with an opportunity to construct a new building in which people can live, work, or shop. This opportunity has to be developed from an idea into something real. At the moment a real estate development organisation takes a development opportunity, it has to manage risks pertaining to the acquisition of land, permits, the design and construction process, and of course the lease and sale of a project. Every decision to invest in a project implies that risks are taken.

As risk taking is essential for real estate development, this study will examine how investment decisions in real estate development projects are made. This will reveal how real estate development organisations have developed and institutionalised skills and procedures to deal successfully with the risky nature of the business. In other words, how they manage to knowingly take risk.

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