NCREIF Academy Course Sequence Guidance
The Academy courses can be taken in any order, but for the optimal experience there is a recommended sequence.
We strongly advise you to start with Essentials of Institutional Real Estate; it is the foundational course covering a wide swath of concepts reviewed at a high-level. Next, we recommend Asset and Debt Valuation and Space Markets Analysis. These courses discuss how to evaluate the market for, and viability of a property and estimate its value. The Investment Analysis & Due Diligence course complements these two courses by diving into the analysis of a specific asset by projecting its cash flows and expected return as well as evaluating its risk and performing due diligence. Whereas Investment Analysis is more of a “bottom up” approach to evaluating an asset, the Institutional Portfolio Construction & Strategy course takes a “top down” approach to evaluating how to allocate funds in a multi-asset portfolio and diversify across property sectors and geographic areas.
We then recommend Performance Reporting & Manager Evaluation, where we focus on return, risk and performance measures of funds and assets. These measures are critical to understand in the evaluation of RFPs and manager performance. Complementary to this course is our Digging In to Reporting Standards, which helps to connect the dots between investment products, investor reporting, benchmarks and standards. Once these concepts are understood, follow up with Performance Measurement and Benchmarking, and / or Attribution and Risk Analysis. These courses are calculation-heavy; you will learn the math behind the measures that were covered in the previous courses. If you decide to take both, it is recommended that you take the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking course first. Along the way, you might find interest in the course Creating Value Through Sustainability. This course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of essential terminology, regulations, and industry frameworks related to sustainability programs and processes. It is designed to support investment managers who aim to introduce or enhance sustainability initiatives and to meet investor expectations. Additionally, the course offers valuable insights for investors to identify effective sustainability programs managed by investment advisors.
Finally, our two Structuring courses tie the above into creating and communicating specific investment programs. Real Estate Fund Formation is the more foundational of the two, with Key Terms and Fee Structures going further into specific and nuanced issues you may face when creating and evaluating investment vehicles.
We strongly advise you to start with Essentials of Institutional Real Estate; it is the foundational course covering a wide swath of concepts reviewed at a high-level. Next, we recommend Asset and Debt Valuation and Space Markets Analysis. These courses discuss how to evaluate the market for, and viability of a property and estimate its value. The Investment Analysis & Due Diligence course complements these two courses by diving into the analysis of a specific asset by projecting its cash flows and expected return as well as evaluating its risk and performing due diligence. Whereas Investment Analysis is more of a “bottom up” approach to evaluating an asset, the Institutional Portfolio Construction & Strategy course takes a “top down” approach to evaluating how to allocate funds in a multi-asset portfolio and diversify across property sectors and geographic areas.
We then recommend Performance Reporting & Manager Evaluation, where we focus on return, risk and performance measures of funds and assets. These measures are critical to understand in the evaluation of RFPs and manager performance. Complementary to this course is our Digging In to Reporting Standards, which helps to connect the dots between investment products, investor reporting, benchmarks and standards. Once these concepts are understood, follow up with Performance Measurement and Benchmarking, and / or Attribution and Risk Analysis. These courses are calculation-heavy; you will learn the math behind the measures that were covered in the previous courses. If you decide to take both, it is recommended that you take the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking course first. Along the way, you might find interest in the course Creating Value Through Sustainability. This course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of essential terminology, regulations, and industry frameworks related to sustainability programs and processes. It is designed to support investment managers who aim to introduce or enhance sustainability initiatives and to meet investor expectations. Additionally, the course offers valuable insights for investors to identify effective sustainability programs managed by investment advisors.
Finally, our two Structuring courses tie the above into creating and communicating specific investment programs. Real Estate Fund Formation is the more foundational of the two, with Key Terms and Fee Structures going further into specific and nuanced issues you may face when creating and evaluating investment vehicles.