Real Estate Management Institute

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The Real Estate Management Institute (REMI) at EBS University was founded in 2006 and is one of the most prominent academic institutions for real estate economics in the German-speaking world. Since October 2023, the institute has been realigned and is now headed by Nikolas Müller and Jan Mutl, who are strategically repositioning REMI in research, teaching and transfer.

With a clear focus on data-based analysis, interdisciplinary perspectives and social impact, REMI addresses the current and future challenges of the real estate industry – from the digitalisation of planning law to the social sustainability of locations.

Within EBS Business School – the business faculty of EBS University – the institute is assigned to the Real Estate Economics & Management competence area.

Dr.-Ing. Architekt Nikolas Müller

- Interim professor for real estate management - Head of the Real Estate Management Institute

nikolas.mueller@ebs.edu +49 6723 9168 124

Vision and mission

REMI brings together all of EBS University's real estate-related activities in four key areas: university education, research, scientific policy and strategy consulting, and executive education.

The aim is to train a new generation of managers who are data-literate, socially responsible, and entrepreneurial and strategic thinkers who can contribute to the transformation of the real estate industry. Our work is based on evidence-based research, methodological depth in business administration and finance, openness to interdisciplinary perspectives, and actively building bridges between business, science, politics, and data science/AI.

We believe in teaching that is accessible, challenging and compatible – with the challenges of real transformation processes as well as international standards in science and professional practice. REMI offers an environment in which scientific depth, critical thinking and career development go hand in hand.

Focus areas

The Real Estate Management Institute sees itself as a driving force at the interface between space, capital, society and technology. REMI's activities are divided into four central pillars:

Education: The focus on real estate is firmly integrated into the bachelor's, master's and doctoral programmes at EBS Business School. The MSc in Real Estate – with study locations in Hamburg and Oestrich-Winkel – is fully internationally oriented, RICS-compatible and closely interlinked with partners from the real estate industry.
Research: Our research is never an end in itself – it addresses forward-looking, socially relevant issues and creates new data-based decision-making foundations for business, politics and associations.
Science communication & transfer: We actively contribute our research to specialist debates – through contributions at conferences, panels, in industry media and public discourse. Our goal is to make knowledge effective – for decision-makers in business, politics and society.
Continuing education: In cooperation with the EBS Executive School and leading market players, we develop practice-oriented in-house programmes for executive development, particularly in the areas of strategic real estate management, ESG, digitalisation and leadership in transformation.

REMI has long-standing ties with the Real Estate and Leadership Foundation and its renowned member companies. It also cooperates closely with IZ Research, Heuer Dialog, gif, RICS, ZIA, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Institute for Corporate Governance (ICG). This network supports our students' research, teaching and career paths in equal measure.

At REMI, we supervise dissertation projects that combine current challenges in the real estate industry with sound theory, innovative methodology and social relevance.

Our doctoral students benefit from:

intensive individual supervision by experienced professors,
an excellent course programme in theory and methodology,
interdisciplinary exchange with other doctoral students,
access to research data, partner networks and practical projects,
participation in the development of new data usage strategies
and the opportunity to develop their own topics at the interface of economics, society, technology and space.

We challenge, support and accompany you on your way to a scientifically sound, impactful dissertation.

Are you interested in a doctorate in real estate? Get in touch with us – we look forward to hearing your ideas!

Ongoing Doctorates

Steffen Baltruschat Since the end of 2024, WHU and EBS alumnus Steffen Baltruschat has been supporting the Real Estate Management Institute as a research assistant. His research focuses on the data-based analysis of supply and demand dynamics in the housing market. As part of the EBS P5 Rental Market Index, he is working on the further development of a digital leading indicator for market tension at the district level. In doing so, he analyses behavioural trends on real estate portals and identifies regional patterns that enable conclusions to be drawn about investment potential and the need for action in housing policy.

Christian Klare The EBS alumnus and graduate of London Business School (UK) has been a research assistant at REMI since September 2025 and works at the interface of market analysis, data strategy and location research. As part of a cooperation project with IZ Research and Immobilien Zeitung, he is developing new data-based valuation approaches for the location and potential analysis of real estate sites. The aim is to systematically improve the spatial decision-making basis for project developers, portfolio managers and municipal actors and make it available digitally.

Graduated Doctorates

We are very pleased about the successfully completed doctoral theses at the EBS Real Estate Management Institute:

Susanne Hügel The doctoral thesis of Susanne Hügel entitled "Innovation in Service Industries - An investigation of the internal and external organizational contexts from the laboratory of real estate" deals with the topic of innovation in the real estate industry from an external, industrial economics perspective as well as an internal, behavioral economics perspective.

Sebastian Krautz received his doctorate in the field of real estate private equity. The focus of his research was on the identification of return indicators of closed-end real estate funds as well as the analysis of fundraising (mis)successes of fund managers. His doctoral thesis is entitled "Essays on Real Estate Private Equity".

Thomas Müller's doctoral dissertation is entitled "Essays on Housing and Pensions: A European Perspective". In his research, he focused on the effect of demographic change on pensions in a European context. In particular, the allocation as well as the liquidation of private residential property as a support for old-age provision was addressed. The publication presents the results on the relationship between home ownership and retirement provision as well as the extent of change in home ownership at retirement age.

Nicolas Seyler The performance of a building depends not only on its efficiency, but also on the behavior of its users. User behaviors can more than offset technological efficiency gains and are influenced by a complex interplay of a wide range of factors. Recent research suggests that users in real estate often act automatically, unconsciously and routinely. Nicolas Seyler dedicated himself to this topic and wrote his doctoral thesis on the extent to which mindfulness can contribute to more sustainable behaviors. Graduation: May 2019

Julian Eibel, under the working title "Motives and Effects of Joint Ventures and Partnerships on Real Estate Investment Trusts", devoted himself to the question of what influence joint ventures have on the restrictions of REITs. This resulted in research questions on long-term equity performance, target leverage ratio, and announcement effects. Graduation: October 2019

Jan Hendrik Lukowski The focus of his research was the residential real estate market. To this end, Jan Hendrik Lukowski investigated real estate market reactions to local large-scale construction projects. Graduation: December 2019

Nikolaos-Leonidas Papageorgiou has been pursuing a PhD in Real Estate Economics at EBS REMI since May 2017. He focuses his research on residential property prices in Greater London. For this purpose, Nikolaos-Leonidas Papageorgiou investigates announcement effects of the Heathrow Northwest runway expansion on the surrounding real estate markets. Completion date: June 2021.

Florian Schüßler received his PhD in Real Estate Economics and Finance in early 2018. Mr. Schüßler focused on the housing affordability of German residential real estate markets and the influence of local economic structures. Graduation: August 2021.

Katharina Johanna Oetken Since April 2018, Katharina Johanna Oetken has been strengthening the EBS Real Estate Management Institute as a research associate and doctoral candidate. Her previous research has focused on urbanization and the city as a space characterized by perpetual change. This development requires innovative strategies and adaptive flexibility in planning, which Katharina has exemplarily investigated in practice. Urban agglomerations are developing dynamically and new forms of coexistence are becoming necessary. Katharina critically questions to what extent new qualitative approaches and concepts can be thought of in an interdisciplinary way, taking into account not only economic but also sociological, ecological as well as architectural aspects.

Nils Neukranz In December 2018, Nils Neukranz started as a research assistant and PhD student at the EBS Real Estate Management Institute. In his research work, he uses satellite data to investigate how real estate supply in urban and rural regions in Germany is changing and what influence this has on the surrounding real estate markets.

Ricarda Haffki Ricarda Haffki joined the EBS Real Estate Management Institute as a research associate and doctoral student in February 2019. Her research focus is on Real Estate Investment & Finance in combination with Behavioral Real Estate. Ricarda holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, which she completed parallel to her apprenticeship as a Real Estate Management Assistant (IHK). This was followed by a Master of Science in Business Education at the Otto-Friedrich-University in Bamberg. Ricarda has several years of practical experience in real estate investments for private and institutional clients as well as in commercial real estate financing. Most recently, she worked in real estate lending for North America.

Elmar Lang Elmar Lang joined the EBS Real Estate Management Institute in September 2019 as a research associate and PhD student. In his research work, he investigates the impact of the low interest rate environment on real estate markets. In doing so, he distinguishes return and risk factors in an empirical analysis of different cities. Initially, he completed an apprenticeship as a banker and a bachelor's degree in "Finance" at the S-Hochschule in Bonn. He then worked for three more years as a consultant in the bank's private customer segment. This was followed by his master's degree in "Real Estate Management" at the University of Regensburg (IREBS). In the course of a double master programme, he completed two semesters at Bond University in Gold Coast, Australia.

Lukas Felix Götzelmann Lukas Felix Götzelmann joined the EBS Real Estate Management Institute as a research associate and doctoral student on March 15, 2020. The graduate economist sees his research focus in the field of real estate management and is particularly interested in the link to macroeconomic issues and socio-political challenges in this context.

Laura Haidl Laura Haidl joined the EBS Real Estate Management Institute as a research associate and doctoral candidate on April 1, 2021. Her research focuses on social impact investing in real estate with a focus on Africa. Laura Haidl holds a degree from the European Business School University of Economics and Law (B.Sc.) and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (LL.M.).

Laura Götz Laura Götz joined the EBS Real Estate Management Institute as a research associate and PhD student on July 1, 2021. Laura's research focus is on real estate risk management. Increasing economic and regulatory pressures on the real estate industry require an intense focus on real estate risk measurement and the introduction of alternative risk measures. Laura is particularly interested in the impact of megatrends (including ESG, regulatory, demographic change) on the real estate industry and risk management. Through her research, Laura hopes to contribute to the professionalization of real estate risk management. Before joining EBS, she worked for two years at an accounting firm in the area of deal advisory. She completed her Master's degree in Real Estate Management at IREBS in Regensburg and also holds a Master's degree from Bond University in Australia.

Understanding data. Connecting perspectives. Shaping markets and society.

At the Real Estate Management Institute (REMI), we research the dynamics of real estate markets using an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach. Our work combines economic, social, regulatory and technical perspectives to develop practical solutions for a resilient, sustainable and data-informed real estate industry.

We work at the interface of research, strategic consulting and digital innovation. The aim is to develop new forms of data usage that make real behavioural and market processes more visible and controllable. Together with partners from science and industry, we create tools that improve stakeholder decisions – from investors and local authorities to project developers and portfolio managers. A particular focus is on the development of behaviour-based market indicators, data-driven location models and evidence-based decision-making foundations for investment, regulation and planning.

Our research formats include:

Market analyses and index developments (e.g. rental markets, demand potential, technically or socially stranded assets)
Real-world laboratories and cooperation projects with project developers, banks, local authorities and associations
Interdisciplinary application of methods (e.g. location intelligence, semantics, AI)
Strategy consulting and transfer into practice (white papers, tools, transfer workshops)

Our research is theoretically sound, empirically robust and socially effective – at the forefront of current challenges in housing construction, neighbourhood development, ESG initiatives and the digitalisation of decision-making processes.

We are convinced that a sustainable real estate industry emerges where research and practice engage in dialogue – on an equal footing, data-driven and with a view to transformation. If you would like to engage in sparring with us, we look forward to hearing from you.

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