How to Become a Real Estate Investment Analyst

by S.K.Jha, EduMark Realty Education Services

Real estate investment analysts are the most important and vital element in real estate investment decision making process and in optimization of the performance of currently held portfolio of investors. Their prime responsibility is to find out the feasibility of making investment in any real estate project, either now or in future. Their specific activities include collation, compilation and analysis of large amount of information about a potential project, carry out financial analysis, valuation modeling, cash flow analysis etc., understand and analyze operating statements, capital budgets, rent rolls, tenant leases etc. and analyze third party reports. Property investment analysts prepare property analysis and investment report. They are closely associated with the investment and acquisition process and work actively with asset managers to identify under performing assets and to optimize portfolio performance.

Working Environment

The normal working time is 40-hour per week. However, during project acquisition and/or investment period, they may have to work longer and on weekends in order to meet project deadline. They work closely with internal staffs, external consultants and other professionals. Internally they work very closely with investment as well as asset management team. Externally, they deal with a host of professionals including research professionals, property consultants, project development managers etc.

Employers
Property investment funds, equity investors, high net worth individuals etc. are the major employers of investment analysts. However, large developers, international property consultants, advisory firms also recruit property analysts.

Employment Prospect

Since Indian property market is in the growth phase and offers one of the highest rates of return to investors, global investors are setting up their base in India, which in turn has enhanced the need for investment analysts. Therefore, employment and growth prospect for them are expected to remain very strong in the coming future.

Education
Educational background in real estate, finance, investment, urban planning, commerce etc. is preferred. Educational background in property related subjects is however most preferred for career advancement.

Knowledge, Skills, and Personality Traits

Employers prefer candidates with following qualities:

• Good analytical skill
• Excellent written, verbal and listening skills
• Good decision making ability
• Excellent problem solving skills
• Ability to work under pressure and strict deadline
• Report writing skills

Similarly, candidates with knowledge in the following areas are highly preferred:
• Accounting journal entry
• Spread sheet accounting programs
• Analytical software such as ARGUS
• Design, graphs, charts, tables etc. for presentation
• Excel spread sheet etc.

Compensation
Analysts are among the highest paid professionals today. Moreover, salary range rises very fast after having two to three years of work experience.

Tips for entry: If you are working as analyst in other sector, pursue a real estate course in any related area from a reputed real estate institute and then approach employers either directly or through placement consultants. Institutes such as NIREM, EduMark Realty Education http://www.edumarkindia.in/ etc. offer several related real estate courses. Infact, EduMark offers to highly specialized courses in investment. These are certificate in residential investment and certificate in commercial investment, which may be of great use to those planning to start their career as analyst. 

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