Publications

October 2022
Exercise

Shanty Real Estate: Confidential Information for Homebuyer 1

By: Michael Luca, Jesse M. Shapiro and Nathan Sun

Shanty is a simulation in which students inhabit the role of either a traditional home buyer or an iBuyer, both bidding on the same condo. The traditional home buyer has access to a “comp sheet” of similar properties that have recently sold, and has done a walkthrough.... View Details

Keywords: Data-driven Decision-making; Decisions; Negotiation; Bids and Bidding; Valuation; Consumer Behavior; Real Estate Industry

01 Dec 2017
News

2017 in Real Estate: A Local Business Goes Global

Real estate has traditionally been a local business, but more and more, it’s becoming global, the same way so many other businesses have. On a year-to-year basis, we’ve been seeing global cross-border flows... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate

13 Jun 2018
News

TEDx Talk

Keywords: transportation; urban development; work-life balance; real estate; housing; Real Estate

02 Mar 2016
What Do You Think?

Is Apple’s Real Privacy Challenge Technology Innovation Itself?

application for commercial credit and other data points (is) right there on the first page of the Apple user contract--there for all to see. It would seem that this privacy gate is down for the FBI alone.” Slcharles proposed that, “It... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology

Article

Healthy Buildings in 2070

By: John D. Macomber and Joseph G. Allen

Fifty years seems a very long time in the future for most industries. Not so in buildings and real estate; built structures routinely last decades if not hundreds of years, as long as they are economically competitive. Any discussion of the 50-year future has to... View Details

Keywords: Health ＆ Wellness; Real Estate; Architectural Innovation; Public Health; Health; Buildings and Facilities; Well-being

Read Now

September 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Supplement

Grupo Sidek (B)

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Alberto Moel

Supplements the (A) case. Designed to be handed out midway through class. View Details

Keywords: Foreign Exchange; Real Estate; Debt Policy; Tourism; Steel; Crisis Management

01 Apr 1996
News

Stasis and Turmoil: HBS Research for the Real World

reasonably to expect. Nobody wants to play a game where they find out after the final whistle whether the high or low score wins." Stevenson, who joined the HBS faculty in 1968, developed two real estate... View Details

February 2013 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Project Sun Devil and Project Paris

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz

Tony Lee is preparing to present a project to the investment committee of Howard Street Capital. He will be recommending an investment in Project Sun Devil, a high-quality 225-unit student housing rental property near Tempe, Arizona. Tony Lee will compete for capital... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Financial Analysis; Return On Assets; Accounting; Performance Measurement; Financial Ratios; Return On Equity; Financial Statements; Profitability Analysis; Portfolio Investment; Portfolio Management; Real Estate; Property; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Real Estate Industry; United States

March 2014 (Revised February 2016)
Supplement

China Vanke (A-2)

By: Lynn S. Paine, John D. Macomber and Keith Chi-ho Wong

China Vanke's president and his team must decide on a plan of action after reviewing the quality issues the company faced in early 2012 after a series of highly publicized incidents concerning the quality of the homes they built. View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; China; Green Building; Sustainable Development; Asset Management; Leadership; Urban Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Assets; Safety; Real Estate Industry; China

November 2008
Case

The StarNight Hotel Construction Bid: Real Time Competition on Schedule, Scope, and Cost

By: John D. Macomber

The case is intended for use with the HBS Educational Technology Group "Construction Bidding Simulation." Material that can be taught includes quantity survey methodology (from the case); analyzing preliminary estimated costs per building trade (from the discussion... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Construction; Cost; Contracts; Bids and Bidding; Real Estate Industry

01 Sep 2014
News

Groundwork

drop-off point from Western Avenue.” When it comes to undeveloped campus real estate, the parking lot adjacent to Spangler will offer a bridge to Harvard University’s planned Allston expansion. “Looking 10 or more years out,” notes... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; George F. Baker III; real estate; Tata Hall; Real Estate; Real Estate

01 Feb 2000
News

Better Mousetraps: At Product Design Fair, Student Ideas Get Real

become apparent," Thomke elaborated, "rather than out in the real world, where millions of dollars are potentially at stake. They get a lot of theory in class, but here they learn by doing." Indeed, some of the eighty students may well... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

June 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Reworking Office Space: Industry City, Brooklyn

By: Arthur I Segel, Andrew Baum, Nori Gerardo Lietz, Charles F. Wu and Sid Yog

Jamestown is contemplating how to best lease a portion of their new development along the Brooklyn waterfront, Industry City. The 6 million square foot, mixed-use development is meant to accommodate Brooklyn’s growing innovation, creative, and “maker” communities.... View Details

Keywords: WeWork; Office Space; Real Estate; Jamestown; Level39; Shared Office Space; Information Technology; Leasing; Property; Strategy; Real Estate Industry; United States

January 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

United Housing—Otis Gates

By: Steven Rogers and Mercer Cook

Otis Gates, the only African-American in his HBS graduating class, is an entrepreneur from greater Boston area and has built a successful affordable housing firm. Along the way, he and his partners have contributed countless hours of community service to the... View Details

Keywords: Affordable Housing; Real Estate; Community Engagement; Social-good; Request For Proposal; Diversity; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Moral Sensibility; Fairness; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Housing; Business and Community Relations; Real Estate Industry

01 Jun 2024
News

Crash Pad

each floor—“and lots of little cubicles on the inside. Turning those into units with light is not at all easy to do.” Still, post-pandemic trends are reshaping commercial real View Details

Keywords: Amy Crawford; illustrations by Kathleen Fu; building coversion; housing crisis; innovation; real estate; Real Estate

09 Feb 2018
News

No Time For Complacency For U.S. Banks - Aggressive Technology Use Can Create Real Shareholder Value

01 Dec 2019
News

3-Minute Briefing: Leslie Hale (MBA 2001)

surround myself with very smart people. But don’t confuse my desire to be collaborative with an inability to make decisions. I’m honored and humbled to be the first African American woman to become CEO of a publicly traded real View Details

Keywords: April White; real estate; leadership; diversity; African American; career paths; women in business; Real Estate

February 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Sekisui House and the In-Home Early Detection Platform

By: John D. Macomber and Akiko Kanno

To address an aging population and sales declines, a major Japanese homebuilder considers pivoting to provide and support an in-home health detection platform, in competition with tech companies. This case considers the point of view of major builders regarding how... View Details

Keywords: Voice Assistants; Architecture; Smart Home; Aging Society; Digitalization; Real Estate; Home Automation; Sensors; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Health Care and Treatment; Housing; Age; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Japan