The American Enlightenment

In the book Siddartha by Hermann Hesse we see the main character of the book Siddartha, travel around India searching for enlightenment, and he finally finds it when he experiences all the known ways to reach enlightenment, from living with the rich, the poor, trying to learn from an already enlightened, than he start to live at a boat house by the river where he becomes enlighten when he listen to nature. He experiences enlightenment from experiencing the views of all walks of life, and knows the way they think, the way they view things, and is essentially all of the lifestyle. The message of the novel rings true to this day: that in order to become a better person in general, you need to experience life as many ways as possible. You can’t have true understanding until you know others’ view points, and the know their experiences. This paper will explain how I have come to understand the people not only at MU but elsewhere in Huntington and the United States, by reading other religious text, making friends and experiencing their way of life, and finding the connection between us all

Property transactions : a note on ethics

Some activities that are applied in the property market to facilitate transactions have the potential to lead to unethical behaviour. Two conditions required for a sale price to be acceptable as market value are that the transaction is at arm&rsquo;s length and the parties to the transaction are knowledgeable and prudent. The well-known difficulties associated with access to market pricing information are exacerbated by several of these activities including dummy bidding at auctions, two-tier marketing and the provision of lease incentives. Added to these is a common requirement that any negotiation be commercial-in-confidence. The lack of information has the potential to distort the market and this has been well publicised in recent times particularly in the residential market.The definition of market value is visited and the nature of ethics in property transactions is outlined. Several examples of activities that could lead to unethical behaviour are described. It is concluded that unethical behaviour is hard to identify. Some recommendations are included for consideration and discussion.<br /

Introduction to special section 2 : anthropology and character

The authors thank The Ladislav Holy Memorial Trust for sponsoring the original Anthropology of Character conference, held at the University of St Andrews in 2016The introductory essay to this second special section on Anthropology and Character seeks to extend an exploration of the relevance of the character concept, in part by looking beyond its exclusive attribution to the human subject. While continuing to develop the insights of previous discussions about both the emic and etic status of the concept, in obvious fields such as the anthropology of ethics and the anthropology of Christianity, the authors here ask what difference it makes to begin analysis with a description of non‐human characters. This includes calling our attention to the objects of character – its specific materialisations. By reflecting on various examples offered by the special section's contributors, such as the characterful nature popularly assigned to animals, to scientific units of behaviour and to historic places and buildings, new questions are identified for an emergent project on Anthropology and Character. This leads to a broader examination of characterisation as an enactment on the page (or stage) but also in the world, and on the role of audience (or reader) in the recognition of a character's distinctiveness. Finally, we ask what consequences these reflections might have for the ways in which we treat characterisation as a feature of anthropological writing.PostprintPeer reviewe

Economic transition and commercial property cycles in China

Drawn from a recently completed study, this paper aims at a better understanding of commercial property cycles in the transitional economy of China. It examines the behaviour of the property submarket system in China and considers structural changes in the socio-economic system as a primary factor in addressing the research problem. The study suggests that the underlying social and economic structure has greatly determined market behaviour. It finds that radical changes can alter the formal structure (the designed structure) of the market system, including the property market structure, but cannot alter the informal structure (i.e. the emergent structure) at the similar rate. As the study shows, cycles in the commercial property market in the economic transition is largely a key resulting feature of the continuous structural change both at formal and informal levels in a way that is often imbalanced and not always consistently changing together. The same situation also applies to the transformation of inner-city built form, which is featured by a delayed change of physical building stock against the space demand trend that is underpinned by the socio-economic transition. Put simply, there is a supply lag, mainly in the form of changing land use and building stock replacement, against economic change (the business cycle). This affects the level of effective demand for office space and hence becomes a major force in shaping current office cycles.<br /

Sustainable property - the future of the New Zealand market

The New Zealand property industry has recently been introduced to the concept of sustainability. Even though targeted measures have been taken by the New Zealand Green Building Council and government, there is considerable hesitation and scepticism existing in the property market from both an investor&rsquo;s and a building owner&rsquo;s perspective. This paper discusses the results of an investigation into market perception of sustainable buildings from the investment community in New Zealand. Property investors from New Zealand were surveyed about their perception of sustainable buildings in New Zealand and their actions with regards to their own commercial portfolios, as well as the relationship between sustainability and property investment decisions.<br /

Investor perception of the business case for sustainable office buildings : evidence from New Zealand

Over recent years the global market for sustainable commercial property has been growing in importance, with rapid growth occurring overseas that has led to substantial changes in the property markets. The New Zealand property industry has been recently introduced to the concept of sustainability, and although still at an early stage is already noticing the accelerating uptake of sustainability in the industry. Although certain measures have been taken by the New Zealand Green Building Council and government mandates, there remains still a common assumption that there is considerable hesitation and skeptism in the market from both an investor&rsquo;s and a building owner&rsquo;s perspective.The research presented in this paper reports on the results of an investigation into the market perception toward sustainable buildings from the investment community in New Zealand. Property developers and investors from New Zealand were surveyed about their perception of sustainable buildings in New Zealand and their actions with regards to their own commercial portfolios, as well as the impact sustainability is having upon investment decisions. This paper presents the results of research conducted into the relationship between the elements of sustainability and the market value of an office building. The paper provides an insight into the rapidly evolving area of sustainability and office buildings, with the emphasis placed on the valuation process that seeks to assess a hypothetical purchaser&rsquo;s perspective of this relationship.<br /

The 1990\u27s property cycle in Hainan

The continuous debate between the radical and the conservative approaches on which one is more suitable for a successful economic transition seems to be in favour of the latter. With the recent upswing in the property market in Hainan, the review of the 1990s property cycle in Hainan is linked with economic transition in China. A case study approach is used to establish the importance of the 1990s Hainan property cycle to the formation process of the Chinese property market system. The analytical framework is an integration of the theories of property cycles and economic transition, using the conceptual model of typical commercial property markets modified according to the historical settings in Hainan. It is found that the 1990s Hainan property cycle is unique in that the economic transition has been the key driving force. The structural imbalance caused by the equally imbalanced reform process in different sectors in Hainan has been proved an unsuccessful practice. By and large, the 1990s cycle in Hainan lasted for about 10 years and was state-driven. It was considered an experiment conducted by the state in testing the radical approach of economic transition in the property and urban land sectors. It is suggested that current knowledge of emerging commercial property markets, especially their cyclical behaviour, is limited at both theoretical and empirical levels. Evidence from the past 15 years seems to suggest that the structural and investment imbalance in the economic transition was the main cause of the high volatility in the Hainan property market in the 1990s. The emergence of a commercial property market seems to require choosing the right places to start reform with great caution on investment structure and the fundame ntals of the real economy. Eventually, it is essential to adopt a systematic view to assess and to make decision in the process of emergence of property cycles, based on the basic demand and supply patterns in a city&rsquo;s transitional economy.<br /

The relationship between sustainability and the value of office buildings

There is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that the development of sustainability in office buildings and the acceptance of these buildings in the broader property market is increasing. However a gap still remains between the value of sustainability and the value of the building from an International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC) definition of market value. Current literature is limited in the investigation of the impact of sustainable criteria on value component when undertaking a valuation of a commercial office building. Whilst substantial advances have been made in sustainable design and construction aspects, as well as reducing implementation costs and enhancing benefits associated with sustainability, there appears to be inherent barriers in adopting sustainability in the valuation process for the property industry.This paper examines the limited previous research into the elements of sustainable criteria that impact upon property value, and in turn should be reflected in traditional valuation methods. The immaturity of the property market for sustainable building is such that current valuation methods do not appear to have significant evidential proof of increased property value through sales or lease evidence for sustainable buildings. Furthermore, this lack of market evidence makes it inherently difficult for valuers to assess the real market value of sustainable buildings through current valuation methodology. In other words, the level of risk associated with incorporating different levels of sustainability into office buildings appears difficult to measure using a market value perspective in today&rsquo;s property market. Accordingly this paper examines current research that has been undertaken to identify particular sustainable criteria that potentially affects the value of a sustainable building. For example, previous research suggests that sustainable criteria impact upon the valuation equation through rental growth, depreciation, risk premium and cash flow. This paper also examines how other studies have viewed the impact of sustainable criteria and how they are weighted within the valuation equation. The discussion provides an insight into the rapidly evolving area of sustainability and office buildings with emphasis placed on the valuation process that seeks to assess a hypothetical purchaser&rsquo;s perspective of this relationship.<br /

The adverse effect of dummy auction bids on market value

The popularity of an auction as a means of selling residential real estate has increased markedly in recent years. The effectiveness of an auction program is heavily promoted by most real estate agents, claiming it to be the best means of attracting the best price from the highest bidder, It is based on the theory of gathering all buyers together at a publicised time, and then offering the property for sale to the open market.In theory, the person most willing to buy the property will have the highest bid, supposedly agreeing at market value with the vendor (although above the vendor\u27s reserve I. Unfortunately, the practice of dummy bidding has recently resurfaced and highlights serious flaws in the auction system, with hundreds of residential auctions conducted across Australia every weekend.Clearly, it is in the vendor\u27s best interests land the auctioneer\u27s best interests, who is paid even more by the vendor if the price is higherl to achieve the highest offer from the last bidder. The tactic of dummy bids is designed to deceive genuine purchasers into a false sense of perception, where there appears to be more competition for the property than there actually exists.This paper examines the auction process with the emphasis placed on the practice of dummy biding, It considers the broad implications for the definition of market value and also the overall residential market. Useful advice is also included for real estate valuers relying upon auction sale properties in their market analysis. As well as strongly supporting the auction concept, the authors suggest improvements to the overall auction process to ensure relevance to the definition of market value is maintained.<br /

Downside beta and the cross-sectional determinants of listed property trust returns

This study examines the importance of downside beta when seeking to explain variations in listed property trust (LPT) returns in Australia between 1993 and 2005. The results reveal that downside beta outperforms conventional beta and provides higher explanatory power to the cross-sectional LPT return variations. The results also indicate that investors only require a premium for downside risk. However, the explanatory power of downside beta has diminished once the co-kurtosis of LPTs is controlled. Interestingly, the results also reveal that by itself downside beta is unable to fully explain returns in line with strong evidence for momentum and book-to-market ratio. The findings provide additional insights for investors and real estate analysts into the pricing of LPTs