Cities are growing worldwide and their sprawl is increasingly challenged for its pressure on open spaces and environmental quality. Economic arguments can help to decide about the trade-off between preserving environmental quality and developing housing and business surfaces, provided the benefits of environmental quality are adequately quantified. To this end, this book focuses on the use and advancement of the “hedonic approach”, an economic valuation technique that analyses and quantifies the sources of rent and property price differentials. Starting from theoretical foundations, the hedonic approach is applied to the valuation of natural land use preservation and noise abatement measures, as well as to residential segregation and discrimination, extending the analysis to the role of the buyers and sellers' identity on housing market prices and to the issue of environmental justice.

The first section of the book contains seven original essays, arranged in order to coincide with Bill's (chronological) professional career. These essays cover a wide variety of real estate topics, including valuation theory, definition of market value, market analysis, the appraisal process, role of the appraiser as an expert witness, valuation under environmental contamination, and international real estate issues. The second section of the book reprints eleven of Bill's most influential papers, selected with the help of forty of his colleagues. These articles, written by Bill and various co-authors, represent only a portion of his contributions to real estate theory and practice. They are "classics" in real estate education. The final section contains personal reflections by colleagues, family and friends of Bill. One of Bill's most influential publications is his classic text, "Income Property Valuation", and is frequently cited in the testimonials. These testimonials provide clear evidence that Bill was an excellent teacher and real estate professional. He truly cared about his students and colleagues and worked hard to move the real estate profession forward.

Understanding the relationship between urban amenities and real estate prices is a key for the future of our cities. Location choices depend on a variety of urban amenities that eventually determine demand for a specific location. Identifying the impact of these urban amenities on the people’s preferences allows policy makers and developers to increase quality of life. Jan de Graaff therefore quantifies the impact of crime and migration on residential real estate prices and identifies the location choice preferences of Germans by applying innovative methodologies to unique German data sets.

The field of urban economics is built on an analysis of housing prices, land rents, housing consumption, spatial form, and other aspects of urban residential structure. Drawing on the journal publications and teaching notes of Professor John Yinger of Syracuse University, Housing and Commuting: The Theory of Urban Residential Structure presents a simple model of urban residential structure and shows how the model's results change when key assumptions are made more realistic. This book provides a wide-ranging introduction to research on urban residential structure. Topics covered range from theoretical analysis of urban structure with different transportation systems or multiple worksites to empirical work on the impact of local public services on house values and the impact of racial prejudice and discrimination on housing choices. Graduate students and scholars who want to learn about research in urban economics will find this book to be a good starting point.

Amidst the dramatic real estate fluctuations in the first decade of the twenty-first century, this study recognized that there is a necessity to create a real estate prediction model for future real estate ventures and prevention of losses such as the mortgage meltdown and housing bust. This real estate prediction model study sought to reinstall the integrity into the American building and development industry, which was tarnished by the sudden emergence of various publications offering get-rich-quick schemes. In the fast-paced and competitive world of lending and real estate development, it is becoming more complex to combine current and evolving factors into a profitable business model. This prediction model correlated past real estate cycle pinpoints to economical driving forces in order to create an ongoing formula. The study used a descriptive, secondary interpretation of raw data already available. Quarterly data was taken from the study's seven independent variables over a 24-year span from 1985 to 2009 to examine the correlation over two real estate cycles. Public information from 97 quarters (1985-2009) was also gathered on seven topics: consumer confidence, loan origination volume, construction employment statistics, migration, GDP, inflation, and interest rates. The Null hypothesis underwent a test of variance at a .05 level of significance. Multiple regression analysis uncovered that four of seven variables have correlated and could predict movement in real estate cycle evidence from previous data, based in the Inland Empire. GDP, interest rates, loan origination volume, and inflation were the four economical driving variables that completed the Inland Empire's real estate prediction model and global test. Findings from this study certify that there is correlation between economical driving factors and the real estate cycle. These correlations illustrate patterns and trends, which can become a prediction model using statistics. By interpreting and examining the data, this study believes that the prediction model is best utilized through pinpointing an exact numerical location by running calculations through the established global equation, and recommends further research and regular update of quarterly trends and movements in the real estate cycle and specific variables in the formula.

As the title indicates, Essays in Honor of James A. Graaskamp: Ten Years After, is a collection of essays written to honor Graaskamp's major contributions to the field of real estate education and practice over the course of three decades. Upon his death in 1988, the industry lost a major influence for advancing the real estate discipline, both as an academic field and a professional field. The authors in this volume seek to extend Graaskamp's contributions and move the real estate discipline forward. The papers address the challenges posed by the market to return our attention to real estate fundamentals, and to strike a proper balance between Main Street and Wall Street. The authors and editors hope that this book will influence the industry to incorporate many of Grasskamp's ideas into mainstream real estate education and practice. Over the course of his career, Graaskamp made many noteworthy contributions to real estate theory and practice, ideas that if resurrected could offset some of the pressure in the industry to move away from market fundamentals. The authors try to capture the essence of Graaskamp's messages, and intend that the papers serve as a point of departure for discussing the future role and nature of real estate education. Part I focuses on the major contributions to the real estate discipline made by Graaskamp and the Wisconsin Real Estate Program. Part II contains some personal recollections and photos of Graaskamp, and also a summary of the groups that make up the Wisconsin Real Estate Program, a major co-sponsor of this volume. The rest of the book's three main parts are structured around major topics that reflect the multidisciplinary nature of real estate as espoused by Graaskamp. Part III treats real estate feasibility and development, Part IV concentrates on real estate valuation, and Part V discusses institutional economics.