Abdeali Saherwala | Staff Writer
Featured Image: Dr. Devine and Dr. Yonder present new research on real estate investment. | Courtesy of University of Guelph
Dr. Avis Devine, a Schulich professor in Real Estate, was awarded the 2017 Nick Tyrell Research Prize for her recent paper. The paper, entitled “Decomposing the Value Effects of Sustainable Real Estate Investment: International Evidence.” Her co-author is Dr. Erkan Yonder, an assistant professor of Finance and Real Estate at Ozyegin University in Istanbul, Turkey, who is a co-recipient of the award.
Devine comments that she does “the majority of her research on the financial implications of green and environmentally certified real estate investment.”
Her goal in this line of work, “is to inform the industry of the operational details of environmentally conscious buildings, so as to encourage greater investment in the field.”
Yonder says: “From a corporate perspective, real estate and Real Estate Investment Trusts are unique.” To him, environmental sustainability can be achieved through green real estate.
“Real estate is essential for the environment—it can aid in attempts to decrease resource consumption and daily carbon dioxide emissions,” he states.
Both of these researchers attempt to study the implications of sustainable infrastructures on the real estate market, as well as the implications of such buildings upon potential buyers.
“Green certifications, such as LEED and Energy Star, maintain a certain level of environmental efficiency and sustainability for real estate,” says Yonder.
The paper investigates the impact of investment on the value, performance, profits, and costs of producing environmentally-conscious real estate, concluding that the way to sharpen awareness within the industry is through entailing standards on environment-based reporting.
Both researchers analyze the benefits of sustainable infrastructures on a social, economical, and environmental level.
“Our findings demonstrate that these institutional investors buy and hold more of the stocks of real estate companies with sustainable investments. Thus, greenness in real estate investment is equivalent to both environmental and business maintenance,” comments Yonders.
“My co-author, Dr. Erkan Yonder is also an early career academic with a background in real estate finance and specialty in sustainable and environmental real estate research. We find that we collaborate quite well, as we both have complementary research strengths. We intend to continue co-authoring in the future in this field of study,” adds Devine.
“This is wonderful news for Schulich and the Brookfield Centre in Real Estate and Infrastructure, as well as for Dr. Avis Devine,” says Dr. James McKellar, a fellow professor at Schulich.
“Her research also reinforces our ongoing commitment to sustainability, and her work is rapidly gaining international attention both in academia and within industry.”
With international and national appreciation, both professors from different universities are well-praised for their work in environmental sustainability through the examination of sustainable real estate.
Both Devine and Yonder plan to further their work within this field of research.
Congratulations Dr. Devine and and Dr. Yonder!