David Feldman Centre for Real Estate and Urban Economics

The David Feldman Centre for Real Estate and Urban Economics supports research and education in real estate and urban economics at the University of Toronto. The Centre offers a curated curriculum for Rotman Commerce, MBA, and PhD students to develop the next generation of real estate thought leaders. The Centre is also a vibrant hub of research and though leadership, hosting practitioners-in-residence, recognized speakers in real estate, and specialized workshops to drive insights and innovation in this fast-evolving industry.

Centre-affiliated research spans the fields of real estate and urban economics. Recent scholarship has considered:  commercial real estate, the economics of cities, the formation of business clusters, the economics of business improvement districts/areas, investment under uncertainty, real estate development, house price dynamics, housing search, real estate agency, and mortgage finance.

Although the Centre is located within the Rotman School of Management, its activities involve scholars across the University of Toronto and around the world. Past activities have included academic conferences dealing with the microstructure of real estate markets and with the state-of-the-art in real estate and urban economics research. Some of these events have been jointly held with the Sauder School of Business at UBC.

The insights from this academic research are key to the Centre’s public events. Past Rotman real estate activities have dealt with topics such as Union Station, waterfront revitalization, and the decision to own or buy a house.