Volume 8 Issue 2

-By Kamalahasan Achu

Abstract

In recent years, client influence on property valuation has been an emerging theme of behavioural research in the real estate discipline. Studies on valuers’ decision-making behaviour imply that client influence is an important source of judgemental bias. Academic interest in this area, however, has evolved from the task of identifying the existence of client pressure to studies that explain the mechanism of client influence in relation to specific valuation types. This paper offers a thorough review of the existing studies on client influence with the aim to underline future research areas. The existing literature is organised and discussed under three topics: (1) client pressure evidence; (2) influences related to client characteristics; and (3) influences related to specific valuation purposes. The need for better data and methodological solutions is a major constraint and it is expected that future studies in this area would utilise both quantitative and qualitative approaches in order to explain the extent and effect of this phenomenon on valuation. The fact remains that there is much more to discover about client-valuer relationship in the workplace and more importantly its role in the valuation accuracy and variation debate.

Keywords: Real estate valuations, client influence, ethics, behavioural sciences.

CLIENT INFLUENCE ON PROPERTY VALUATION A LITERATURE REVIEW

-By Abdul Hamid Mar Iman and Tan Yu Tian

Abstract

There has been no empirical evidence of the importance of environmental amenity to property price reported from developing markets. This paper fills in the gap by taking Malaysia as a case study. Based on the stated preferences for environmental amenity among potential homebuyers and 442 sale transactions recorded between 2006 and 2010, property environmental attributes in terms of geographic orientation, position, and proximity were included in the regression equation of home price. The regression results were generally consistent with those obtained from respondents‟ feedback. This paper concludes that there is evidence to show that homebuyers in a developing market place a significant importance of environmental amenity on property price. As an implication, environmental quality of the environment should remain as a
major element inasustainable property market.

Keywords: environmental amenity, regression model, house price, property market

-By Shahabudin Abdullah, Hishamuddin Mohd Ali, Ibrahim Sipan and Mark Deakin

Abstract

This paper discusses performance measurement in space utilisation at the university. Using planned timetabling of rooms usage, data are collected through interviews and questionnaire survey. The analysis shows that UFO rate for Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) is as good as in the United States and United Kingdom. This paper suggests that in order to increase utilisation rate, HEIs should consider occupancy rate as it is the determining factor affecting the utilisation rate. The occupancy rate is derived from the number of students occupying the designated teaching and learning space.

Key words: facilities management, space management, space utilisation