Real Estate Knowledge and the Development of a Real Estate Curricula for African Universities

Abstract

Real estate education across the globe has, at its core, certain universal and value-neutral skills and knowledge. This knowledge has developed over decades to reflect the functions of specific market structures which characterise real estate markets. Moreover, it is reflective of the maturity of real estate markets, and as such, the tools developed reflect specific market structures. Real estate analysts are becoming increasingly interested in real estate markets in emerging economies. The challenge facing these analysts is that the dominant real estate theory is based on mature markets within an industrialised context and therefore do not accurately reflect real estate markets in emerging economies. The generic context of real estate markets in emerging economies tends to be characterised by a dual economy, a lack of transparency in the markets, high levels of uncertainty and the existence of communal/customary and informal rights in the ownership of real estate. Hence, this study examines the real estate academic syllabus taught by universities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so this ongoing research aims to assess and understand the differences that exist between the real estate programmes and examine the direction that these programmes could take in an emerging country context.