EDITORIAL
We are pleased to present the fourth issue of "World of Real Estate Journal" for 2019. Until now, the last issue each year contained articles published only in English. However, the passing year has brought significant changes in the publication policy. One of the most important is the transition to publications in English in each issue of the journal. We believe that this decision by the Editorial Board of the Journal will allow to achieve a broader range of readers.
The current issue contains five scientific papers on the real estate market, real estate financing, investments and regional development. In addition, the issue provides reports on conferences held in Paris and Bucharest in 2019. As this is the last issue of the year, we are also publishing the annual table of contents and the list of reviewers.
Within the first thematic section, INVESTMENT, we recommend an interesting article by Bernhard Funk, entitled “Geographical Allocation in Investments of German Open-Ended Real Estate Funds: Does Expectation Impact Country Allocations?” addressing the current problem of the influence of Brexit on the European economic environment. The main focus of the above paper is to identify whether German open-ended real estate funds reallocated investments from the UK to other countries due to the expectations of the exit from the European Union, as triggered by the poll in the United Kingdom in the year 2016. Therefore, the main target of the study is to examine if the preemptive “BREXIT-expectation-effect” can be found in data.
Within the second thematic section, REAL ESTATE. we are publishing two interesting papers. The first one co-authored by Michał Gluszak and Małgorzata Rymarzak, the other one co-authored by Karolina Jarosz and Iwona Foryś. The article by Michał Głuszak and Małgorzata Rymarzak, entitled “Expectations and House Prices: An Exploratory Analysis”, explores the formation of beliefs regarding the past house price dynamics and expectations about future house price developments in Krakow from 2009 to 2018. The presented study is the first attempt to explore beliefs and expectations of house buyers in Poland and is one of few research papers on the house price expectation formation in Central Eastern European countries.
The other article within the first section by Karolina Jarosz and Iwona Foryś, entitled “A Public-Private Partnership or an Operating Leaseback: Alternative Sources of Financing Public Purpose Real Estate in Poland”, aims to compare two forms of financing local government real estate: public-private partnership and leasing, to assess these mechanisms and to indicate the barriers to their use in Poland. The Authors state that the main determinant of low popularity of PPPs and operating leaseback in relation to real estate in Poland is the unfavourable economic and legal environment of the real estate market and the characteristics of the object of investment in the physical, economic and legal aspect.
Within the third thematic section, URBAN AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, we offer two interesting articles linked to regional development, the first one co-authored by Małgorzata Blaszke, Izabela Rącka, Maciej Nowak, and Olga Buzu, and the other one co-authored by Maciej Nowak, Paweł Mickiewicz, Małgorzata Blaszke, and Alexnadr Ivanovicz Kostyaev.
The article by Małgorzata Blaszke, Izabela Rącka, Maciej Nowak, and Olga Buzu is entitled “Public Purpose Investments in Voivodeship Spatial Development Plans as an Expression of Regional Spatial Policy”. The aim of the article is to identify possible ways of verifying and evaluating voivodeship spatial development plans as key tools of spatial policy at the regional level. The authors focus primarily on this aspect of plans, which is directly reflected in the local spatial policy, i.e. distribution of public purpose investments.
Last but not least, an article by Maciej Nowak, Paweł Mickiewicz, Małgorzata Blaszke, and Alexnadr Ivanovicz Kostyaev, entitled “Regional Development as a Determinant of Spatial Policy Tools”, aims to identify how the key conditions of regional development are reflected in the local spatial policy in Poland verbalised in local land-use plans. The authors draw attention to several problems related to proper spatial planning at the local level, which hinder and sometimes even prevent the proper shaping of territories and their development.
The regular CONFERENCES section reports on two notable conferences held in Paris and Bucharest in 2019.
In this issue we provide the list of publications from the whole year 2018 and the list of reviewers cooperating with us to maintain the appropriate substantive level of our Journal.
I wish you enjoyable and beneficial reading.
Agnieszka Małkowska
Thematic Issue Editor
