Dr Cath Jackson

My research focuses on exploring and extending understanding of the functioning of local property markets, from the perspective of improving the knowledge and information base for property investment decision-making.

This focus highlights the role of local characteristics and context in market performance. Three sub-themes are developed:

Local retail rental determination

This dominant theme examines the retail sector, drawing on a sample of spatially and functionally diverse markets identified as the most important in terms of investment activity (outside London).

This theme explores market fundamentals in retail rental determination and is developed through a series of linked projects:

• The development of a cross-sectional model of rental determination, testing for spatial stability across groups of markets with differing geographical and functional economic characteristics.
• The analysis of temporal and spatio-temporal patterns in rental determination, recognising interactions between phases of market cycles and market types.
• The recognition of the importance of market fundamentals in the development of diversification strategy.

Retail policy and market performance

The second research theme investigates the role of the policy environment in market performance.

This explores findings from the first theme, which identified the need to extend the analysis of rental determination and market performance beyond the traditional boundaries of demand-side factors, towards a more qualitative consideration of supply-side factors and agencies.

Thus, further papers consider and explore issues including the role of local planning authority strategic and attitudinal stance towards town centre promotion and management, concluding that these factors can be significant in determining investment market performance.

Current research seeks to extend this body of work, including the collection of qualitative evidence of fund manager response to local planning environments (sponsored by the IPF) and through an exploration of the context of fund manager decision-making (sponsored by the RICS).

The operation of office and industrial markets

The third theme extends the analysis of the functioning of local property markets to the office and industrial sectors.

Reflecting differences in the operation of the sectors, this theme highlights the role of global and macro-economic factors in market operation, within local market regulatory and built environment contexts.

Research projects

• Real Estate, Place Adaptation and Innovation within an integrated Retail system (REPAIR) (Economic & Social Research Council)
• Changing priorities in investor decision-making: the sustainability agenda (RICS)
• The implicit pricing of property attributes (RICS)

I welcome applications from students interested in PhD research in my areas of interest.