Real Estate Finance Fundamentals | Harvard University

We will focus on real estate finance fundamentals that are important to either develop and/or invest in varied types of real estate assets, or to enhance your ability to understand how real estate finance fundamentals relate to your primary role as a member of a real estate development or investment team, all with emphasis on understanding how real estate value is created, measured, and managed.

Expect a lively and engaging interactive classroom experience! Key topics will include: establishing realistic financial objectives; identifying and calculating the primary components of return in income-producing real estate including cash flow, tax benefits, and futures; preparing operating and capital cost pro formas and sources and uses of funds statements; understanding debt-financing underwriting basics (net operating income, debt service coverage factors, annual constants, debt/equity ratios, and other lender underwriting requirements); appreciating the importance of achieving positive financial leverage; calculating and interpreting standard industry measures of return: Return on Total Asset Cost (Cap Rate), Cash-on-Cash Return, leveraged and unleveraged Net Present Value (NPV), and Internal Rate of Return (IRR); and Equity Multiples. Other topics will include preparing sensitivity analyses and understanding simple Waterfall/Promote structures (the priority and amount of cash flow distributions to the respective financial and operating partners in a real estate joint development or investment joint venture).

We will teach and discuss these principles that are applicable worldwide using examples drawn from a wide variety of asset classes.