The SPR Committee is pleased to welcome the 2026 edition of “Property Research in the Real World: Practical Applications” which will take place 8-9 September at Bayes Business School, London. This two day event is aimed at property researchers with 1-2 years industry experience.

Research plays a key role in businesses involved in the global property market. Effective property researchers provide advice and analysis that informs and provides actionable advice to decision makers which shapes strategies and the bottom line.

The two-day course is aimed at providing a broad understanding of how the application of research techniques and real estate data (and its pitfalls) supports decision making processes. Participants will learn how to frame research questions; understand key metrics, variables and data sources; learn how to identify key trends, market drivers and risks; the application of AI in research and understand the research considerations in the investment process.

Thank you to Bayes Business School for hosting this event

Day 1
Welcome & introduction
Rad Radev, Associate Research Analyst, Carter Jonas, SPR Chair
Hamish Smith, Head of UK, Research & Strategy at Savills Investment Management

Session 1: Property Research in context
Andrew Smith, CIO Hearthstone Investments and SPR Fellow

• What is property research and why do people do it?
• Who does it and where can a career in research lead to?
• Using research to help decision making – how has research shaped commercial property markets & how is it used?
• The changing landscape of real estate.

Session 2: Real estate property cycles
Professor Sotiris Tsolacos, Real Estate Investment, Bayes Business School

•  How do commercial real estate markets work – what are the drivers of different property sectors?
• How do property markets interact with the real economy?
• What do researchers need to consider – macro vs micro?
• Where does debt investing fit into all of this?

Session 3: Data in action - challenges & pitfalls for researchers
Simon Marx, Head of Research, Redevco UK

• Overcoming the challenges of different definitions and biases
• How different tools and techniques can influence how we interpret data
• Tips for analysing markets with limited data
  
  

Session 4: Understanding the investment process
Sabina Reeves, Chief Economist, Head of Research, CBRE IM

• What are the different types of investment strategies?
• How does the investment process work?
• What is role of research? - practical challenges & how to address obstacles & find solutions
  

Day 2
Session 5: Valuations – what are they & why are they important
Malcolm Frodsham, Director & Founder, Real Estate Strategies and SPR Fellow

• What is a valuation & why are they cornerstone of the industry?
• What is the difference between value, price and worth?
• Understanding different approaches to valuations
• How are valuations done & what metrics influence them?
  
  

Session 6: Application of AI in Research
Dom Silman, Chief Economist, LaSalle Investment Management

• Introduction to AI and use cases in real estate
• Live examples of uses of AI for real estate
•  The future of work in our profession

Session 7: Drivers and Disruptors
Professor Yolande Barnes, Emeritus Professor, UCL, SPR President and SPR Fellow

• Understanding the drivers of real estate in the 20th Century
• How the drivers are different in the 21st century
• Disruptors, such as Digital, Demographics, Geo-Political, Climate, Social.
•  Implications for global Real Estate

Session 8: Practical exercise
In groups, participants will evaluate the pros and cons of holding an asset in a portfolio

Course conclusion, presentation of certificates

Presenters
Yolande Barnes, Emeritus Professor, UCL, SPR President and SPR Fellow
Malcolm Frodsham, Director and Founder, Real Estate Strategies and SPR Fellow
Simon Marx, Head of Research, Redevco UK
Sabina Reeves, Chief Economist and Head of Insights and Intelligence, CBRE Investment Management
Dom Silman, Chief Economist, LaSalle Investment Management
Andrew Smith, Chief Investment Officer, Hearthstone Investments and SPR Fellow
Sotiris Tsolacos, Professor in Real Estate, Bayes Business School


Yolande Barnes, Emeritus Professor, UCL
Yolande Barnes is an Emeritus Professor and real estate consultant, strategist and advisor with over 40 years experience in the property industry. She was head of World Research at Savills before joining UCL as Chair of the Bartlett Real Estate Institute from 2018 to 2025. She takes a global, cross-sector view of long run trends and future influences affecting the entire real estate industry and markets. She believes that a new, more accurate, understanding of all elements of real estate, is essential for the effective application of AI and machine learning and an integral component of a successful, future-proofed built environment.

Her work is deliberately unfocussed, looking at the combination and interaction of disruptive trends in demographics, finance, technology, society, the environment, and governments in changing global real estate. Her job is thinking about what others aren’t – yet.  She believes that real estate, meaning land and everything attached to it, is at the heart of sustainability. Understanding real estate value in all its forms is therefore essential to solving the wicked problems and grand challenges of the 21st century. To this end, she sees as imperative the communication of research and ideas that will make a difference.

Yolande is an Emeritus Professor at UCL, President of the Society of Property Researchers, Honorary Fellow of RIBA, Academician at the Academy of Urbanism, Design Council Ambassador and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.


Malcolm Frodsham, Director and Founder, Real Estate Strategies, SPR Fellow
Malcolm has 20 years of experience in real estate data, modelling and risk management techniques. He founded Real Estate Strategies in 2013, an independent management owned business that provides high quality forecasts, research and strategic consulting on the European real estate market. Prior to Real Estate Strategies, Malcolm was Director of Research at IPD and prior to that Head of Research and Strategy at Legal & General Property.

Simon Marx, Head of Research, Redevco UK
As Head of Research, Simon is responsible for framing the outlook for the economy, as well as the real estate occupier and capital markets. He leads the development of innovative tools based on modern analytical techniques and technologies. Working alongside the senior directors, Simon helps develop the portfolio and corporate strategies, and working closely with the Global Client Group to attract new capital from all parts of the world.

Simon has a wealth of experience, having worked in industry since 2001 in various research and strategy leadership roles at companies as diverse as CBRE, Close Investments, CoStar, Experian, Ernst & Young and Lothbury Investment Management. For eleven years he was Managing Director of European Research & Strategy at LaSalle Investment Management.

Outside Redevco, Simon is a trustee and non-executive director at the sustainability charity Bioregional. He is an honorary senior visiting fellow at Bayes Business School and visiting research fellow at Henley Business School. Simon is also the vice chair of the AREF Research Committee and a former chair of the IPF Research Steering Group and former member of the Society of Property Researchers committee. He also mentors the younger generation for several organisations across the industry.

Simon has a Masters in Real Estate Investment & Finance from the University of Reading, and a degree in modern languages from the University of Salford.


Sabina Reeves, Chief Economist and Head of Insights & Intelligence, CBRE Investment Management
Sabina Reeves is Chief Economist and Head of Insights & Intelligence for CBRE Investment Management. She is responsible for the firm’s Research, Analytics and Quantitative Research teams and has a specific role in selecting the economic scenarios and macro risk assessments that power the firm’s proprietary real assets forecasts.

Sabina is excited by the enormous pace of technological change in real assets research, providing unprecedented access to new datasets and insights. She believes curiosity, ingenuity and creativity are vital to data analysis, and enjoys working in a field that can have a tangible, positive impact on the built environment and the communities where people live and work.

Previously, Sabina served as Head of Research for the firm’s EMEA region and the global quantitative team.

Sabina started in the industry in 2001 and joined the firm in 2008. She was previously Chief Economist at IPD. Prior to IPD, she worked for Capital Economics, where she developed their UK residential and commercial property market analysis and forecasting service.

Sabina studied economics at Lincoln College, Oxford University and is a member of the Society of Business Economists, the Society of Property Researchers and the Investment Property Forum. She is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Sabina has previously been an External Examiner for the Real Estate Faculty at the University of Reading and is currently an Associate Fellow at the Said Business School, University Of Oxford.


Dom Silman, Chief Economist, LaSalle Investment Management
Dom Silman is LaSalle’s Chief Economist. He serves as the lead strategist for the European debt team, shaping its investment strategy expertise through data analysis and market insights. Dom leads macro research globally, serves as editor-in-chief of the LaSalle Macro Quarterly, and co-leads the ISA Portfolio View and ISA Outlook global chapter. Dom focuses on developing innovative frameworks, analyses, and data sources to improve market forecasting accuracy, while providing cross-asset class intelligence on FX hedging products, derivatives, and fixed income products.

Prior to joining LaSalle, Dom was a researcher and lecturer in financial economics at the University of Plymouth. His research focused on the growth of alternative-lender financing in the UK, with key contributions in quantitative approaches.

Dom gained his PhD in Financial Economics from the University of Plymouth and also holds a BSc in Economics with Politics from the same institution.

Andrew Smith, Chief Investment Officer, Hearthstone Investments
Andrew currently serves as Chief Investment Officer at Hearthstone Investments, a specialist manager of UK residential property funds, where he is responsible for the company’s investment strategy and fund management activities.

His 30 year property investment career has included domestic and global fund management and strategy roles in large organisations, including Aberdeen Asset Management, where he ultimately served as Global Head of Property, and Henderson Global Investors, where he was responsible for European real estate research and investment strategy.  In recent years he has worked on developing Hearthstone’s capabilities as a specialist manager of affordable private rented housing for institutional investors.

Andrew is a past Chair of the Investment Property Forum, and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He has regularly chaired or served on industry steering groups in the UK and internationally, for organisations such as INREV, the RICS, the National Retail Planning Forum and the Bank of England Property Forum. He is the immediate past President of the Society of Property Researchers.

Sotiris Tsolacos, Professor of Real Estate, Bayes Business School
Sotiris Tsolacos is Professor of Real Estate at Bayes Business School. Before returning to academia, he spent fifteen years in the real estate industry, bringing a combination of academic and practitioner perspectives to his work. Throughout his career, Professor Tsolacos has conducted extensive research on real estate cycles, pricing, forecasting, and portfolio risk analysis, while continuing to engage closely with the private sector.