Real Estate MSc
1 Year Full-Time | September Start

The authentic learning model at the heart of the course is designed to incorporate theoretical learning into practical scenarios wherever possible. This is to develop the skills you will need to succeed in the rapidly evolving property market.

You will emerge well rounded and comfortable with physical buildings, how they are used, and how they are managed as a business. A variety of RICS competencies and professional pathways are embedded in all our modules. This means that you can pursue professional accreditation in commercial real estate, valuation, corporate real estate, planning and development, investment and finance, and project management.

Our commercially focused modules cover the key concepts in real estate. They include:

• Planning and development
• Property valuation
• Investment and Finance
• Property Management
• Sustainability
• Law

We focus on the physical built environment (how it is constructed and adapted over time) and the business of the built environment e.g., how the built environment is utilised and how value is managed and derived.

We also embed core skills around critical evaluation, problem solving, project management, negotiation, communication and decision-making and collaboration. This means that you have the requirements to pursue any career associated with the built environment.

We embed the latest technological innovations to make sure our graduates have the skills to plan, design, construct, manage and value buildings.  Whenever possible we use methods relevant to industry such as presentations, report-writing and mock client meetings to assess student work. Technology driven Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Automated Valuation Models (AVM) are emerging pillars in our teaching.

The course concludes in an independent dissertation in a related specialist area of your choice. There are no examinations for this course.

Balance study with your life

Your workshops, seminars and lectures will all be timetabled on a Monday and Wednesday, making it easier to plan fitting in your study with your other commitments.

For a full-time Master’s programme we expect a commitment of around 35 hours per week (these include the above hours of study on campus/online learning). With our City Campus Library and the University Library Digital Commons open 24/7 during term-time, you are free to do  your self-directed study when you choose and fit your studies around your life.

You will learn in a vibrant and dynamic environment. The diverse professional experience of our staff ranges from real estate surveying, corporate real estate and development appraisal, residential and commercial property valuation, property investment and finance, to building and urban design, planning, construction, project management and law. This is combined with research-active academics whose expertise in the sector span planning and development surveying, urban regeneration, finance, design and architecture.

Lecturers balance their teaching and research with external industry-related projects to inform your learning. This approach creates a research-rich, practice-based environment which will develop your critical abilities, problem solving skills and lay a firm foundation for a career in the property industry.

Our strong links with industry give you the opportunity to work on live projects as part of your course. Industry professionals also regularly deliver guest lectures and share their experiences.

All modules have at their heart experiential learning environments that use the built environment as an authentic lab to learn within. This takes place in the North East, where we are supported by the North East RICS board, nationally where we regularly visit landmark buildings and internationally where we analyse global properties and locations.

You will find the latest technologies to support you in our specialist laboratories and studios. Throughout your time at Northumbria, you will be able to survey, visualise, model and take your ideas from the course, out into the world around you. You will also benefit from dedicated project space and study areas for group and individual work in the Built Environment Hub.

The programme team have also developed an agile approach to technology enabled learning (TEL) which you can use on and off campus. This includes specialist software and online access to module information, key texts, podcasts, and a range of teaching-related materials to support active learning.

We take a research-led approach to all aspects of teaching. As practising researchers, our lecturers pass on the latest techniques from their ongoing work to ensure your learning is current and relevant.

Specialist research areas include sub-national governance and spatial planning, professional access and inclusion, property taxation, property market modelling, adaptive re-use, design guidelines, automated valuation models, building information modelling. This research has gone on to have a real impact in society and practice. Recent highlights include contributions to Government Select Committee Enquires into the impact of business rates on business business rate retention and the future of offices for the British Council for Offices.

With a long history, well-established links in the property industry and excellent graduate employment rates, this RICS-accredited Real Estate MSc is perfectly placed to help launch your career.

An MSc in Real Estate at Northumbria has excellent rates of employment and opportunity. This is undoubtedly due to our long established relationships with employers in the global real estate industry, including Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, JLL, Savills, Knight Frank, Avison Young and Santander. 

Working with these employers throughout your course will give you invaluable sector knowledge and connections that will benefit your career in the future. A host of career paths will be available to you which will utilise the RICS competencies that you have gained throughout all of your modules. The kind of roles you can expect to be prepared for include; surveying roles in commercial real estate, valuation, corporate real estate, planning and development, investment and finance, urban planning, banking and investment sector, project management, construction and town and city management.

Our current graduates work for corporate financial institutions, government organisations, local authorities, government and private clients across the UK and further afield in roles such as surveying, investment, property valuation, planning and development, and property management.