Students from the University of Aberdeen Business School recently travelled to Athens, Greece as part of the MA Real Estate programme. The field trip to Athens was an excellent opportunity for the students to learn first-hand about the challenges and opportunities in the retail, office and hospitality sector in Greece and assess the commercial submarkets of Athens.
Ike Ibekwe, a student on the programme says: “The days were fully packed with well organised events, presentations and tours. We had the opportunity to interact with property professionals and various experts in different Real Estates subjects. There was also the chance to organise a one on one interview sessions with the professionals for more in-depth learning from a practical point of view.”
Students also had the opportunity to network and meet other students and could make a first-hand assessments of locations, property types and the urban environments. Professor Norman Hutchison, Programme Leader, says: “Investment decisions require a careful analysis of all the risks and an estimate of the likely returns. The downturn in the Greek property market started in 2008 following the global financial crisis and the last 8 years has witnessed a severe macro–economic downturn with the government struggling to deal with a large national debt and high levels of unemployment – conditions not normally conducive to property investment by international investors.
The students quickly realised that when evaluating opportunities in depressed markets, a rigorous investment decision model is required with careful filtering of all available information absolutely vital. It was a great lesson to learn at this early stage of their careers.”
You can find out more about the MA Real Estate here https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/subject-areas/404/real-estate/