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Real Estate Investment Finance

MSc or PGDip

Find out more by joining a live webinar

Start dates: January 2025 / April 2025 / July 2025 / September 2025

Part time: 1 - 2 years for Postgraduate Diploma, 18 months - 5 years for MSc.

Location: Distance learning

Department(s): School of the Built Environment

Overview
Course details
Careers
Entry requirements
How to apply
Tuition fees

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Overview

Real estate investment finance is constantly evolving. To continue climbing the career ladder, professionals in this area need to regularly update their knowledge and keep up with market trends.

This entirely online distance learning course is all about putting practical skills into action. It is for professionals around the world with a background in real estate, finance or business. 

Our teaching team uses real-world examples, encouraging you to think critically. You will expand your knowledge of the practices that underpin the sector while being able to work at your own pace and keep track of your learning. 

During your studies, you’ll also have lots of opportunities to connect with professionals across the globe. We’ll invite you to events where industry experts will present and share the latest thinking on different topics.

Read our Hot Property blog for student and alumni profiles and see what they got out of the course.

Alternatively, you may want to consider our alternative CPD programme Certificate of Real Estate Investment Finance.

Attend an open day or webinar Ask a question Order a prospectus

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Why Oxford Brookes University?

  • 4 start dates
    Decide whether you start this course in January, April, July or September. Simply apply 6 weeks before the date you want to start.
  • Control your length of study
    The CPD and PG Diploma can be completed within 1 year, or extended to 2 years. The MSc can be completed within 18 months, or extended to a maximum of 5 years.
  • 100% online study
    We combine flexible, innovative learning with the opportunity to study and network with fellow professionals worldwide.
  • Leaders in education
    This course is supported by industrial bodies such as ANREV, APREA and IPF.
  • 3 levels of study
    We offer 3 levels of learning: CPD, PGDip or MSc. This means you can choose the qualification you need to revalidate your knowledge or accelerate your career.
  • Accreditation(s)

    MSc is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Recognised by the Investment Property Forum

    • Investment Property Forum
    • Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Course details

Course structure

We’ve designed this course to extend your expertise of real estate as a financial asset in the investment market. You’ll complete 4 core modules:

  • The Real Estate Investment Market
  • Applied Real Estate Valuation
  • Real Estate Investment and Finance
  • Legal and Regulatory Considerations.

You’ll look at areas like property portfolio management and property financial management, as well as assets, markets and drivers. We’ll discuss the different valuation standards, techniques and modelling that are key for real estate valuations.

Understanding the context in which a real estate organisation functions is essential. As well as financial reporting and performance, we’ll explore Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues. For the legal and regulatory module, you’ll look at legal structures, regulations and taxation from an international perspective.

For the MSc, you’ll spend time developing your research skills and draw on the core modules to help you decide on a dissertation subject. We’ll also encourage you to link it to your own experiences and current role.

Female student studying with headphones in

Learning and teaching

The REIF programme has been specifically tailored to enhance your online-learning.  You can share work and study experiences, take part in presentations and receive feedback on assignments. Recordings of the Webinars will be available as part of each module. To enable you to get to know other students and discuss your studies informally, we have set up designated groups. Teaching methods include:

Formally:

  • Online Webinars
  • Virtual Office Hour
  • Discussion Board
  • Email

Informally:

  • Linkedin
  • WhatsApp
  • Virtual Coffee

Assessment

There are no formal exams. To reflect the practical nature of the REIF programme, each module is assessed with a combination of:

  • online tests
  • coursework
  • presentations.

Study modules

The modules listed below are for the master's award. For the PGDip award your module choices may be different. Please contact us for more details.

Taught modules

Compulsory modules

  • The Real Estate Investment Market (30 credits)

    This module aims to provide an understanding of the fundamentals and principles of the real estate investment market via six learning packages:

    • Investment Mathematics
    • Assets, Markets and Drivers
    • The Development Process
    • Asset Management
    • Property Portfolio Management
    • Property Financial Management

  • Applied Real Estate Valuation (30 credits)

    This module compares and contrasts the perspectives of real estate valuer and capital market valuation when doing a valuation of real estate via the following learning packages:

    • Valuation concepts and the appraisal process
    • Valuation standards
    • Valuation techniques
    • Valuation modelling
    • Sustainability and property valuations
    • Due diligence

  • Real Estate Finance and Investment (30 credits)

    This module provides the framework for developing an understanding of the financial and business context in which a real estate organisation functions. The learning packages include:

    • Financial reporting and the property business
    • Interpreting the Financial Performance of Property Businesses
    • Sources and costs of capital
    • Investment appraisal and management of risk
    • Property-backed securities
    • Property taxation

  • Legal and Regulatory Considerations (30 credits)

    This module brings together a number of regulatory and tax principles, as well as issues that are implicit in many of the topics covered in the other modules via the following learning packages:

    • Legal structures
    • The Regulatory Environment and Regulatory Bodies
    • The Regulations
    • The Listing Process and On-Going Compliance
    • Foreign Investment Considerations and Unlisted Funds
    • Money Laundering Prevention and Taxation

  • Applied Research Methods (10 credits)

    This module is only compulsory for students studying for the full MSc. Through the development of research skills, this module complements the overall MSc programme by providing students with the opportunity to draw on all of the core modules to inform and direct the choice of dissertation subject.

Final project

Compulsory modules

  • Dissertation (50 credits)

    The aim of the dissertation is to enable students to carry out and write up an extended piece of research focused on their chosen area. Students are encouraged to undertake research in an area of interest to their employers where appropriate.

Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.

Research

Most of our teaching staff are involved in academic research and/or professional/commercial consultancy work.

The Land, Design and Development (LDD) group brings together about 20 research-active academics working on different aspects of real estate, land policy, urban design, urban development and pedagogy.

LDD members undertake a wide range of innovative and interdisciplinary research in areas of economic globalization; property development; housing policy; public space; place identity; urban design and heritage; urban morphology; townscape and city centre management; urban regeneration and sustainability; infrastructure delivery; healthy cities and healthy ageing; and pedagogical methods and digital technologies.

Peter Dent, Michael Patrick and Ye Xu authored ‘Real Estate Property Markets and Sustainable Behaviour for the Natural and Built Environment Series’ (Routledge 2012).

Careers

Our online course is a great fit for real estate professionals across all sectors, as well as fund managers and investment bankers who would like to boost their expertise of real estate as a financial asset in an investment portfolio. Maybe you want to change career paths or perhaps you’re preparing for a promotion.

The MSc REIF is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). This means graduates who have completed the full course are entitled to apply for the RICS graduate pathway to membership.

Entry requirements

International qualifications and equivalences

How to apply

Application process


Apply now

Tuition fees

Please see the fees note
Home (UK) distance learning
MSc £10,300 (18 months); Diploma £8,670 (12 months)
International distance learning
MSc £10,300 (18 months); Diploma £8,670 (12 months)
Home (UK) distance learning
MSc £10,800 (18 months); Diploma £9,190 (12 months)
International distance learning
MSc £10,800 (18 months); Diploma £9,190 (12 months)

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

financefees@brookes.ac.uk

Tuition fees

2024 / 25
Home (UK) distance learning
MSc £10,300 (18 months); Diploma £8,670 (12 months)
International distance learning
MSc £10,300 (18 months); Diploma £8,670 (12 months)
2025 / 26
Home (UK) distance learning
MSc £10,800 (18 months); Diploma £9,190 (12 months)
International distance learning
MSc £10,800 (18 months); Diploma £9,190 (12 months)

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

+44 (0)1865 534400

financefees@brookes.ac.uk

Fees quoted are the full price of the course.

The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support. 

How and when to pay

Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.

  • For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
  • For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page

Financial support and scholarships

If a student is considering applying for a postgraduate loan for the REIF programme, the payments are not made to the University in line with how  the  loan is released.  Please contact Credit Control Team credit-control@brookes.ac.uk for more information.

For general sources of financial support, see our Fees and funding pages.

Additional costs

Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.

Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been published on the website. For more information, please visit our changes to programmes page.