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Jim Clayton was appointed Professor and Timothy R. Price Chair in Real Estate and Infrastructure at the newly established Brookfield Centre in the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto in January 2018. He is tasked with helping to lead and establish the Brookfield Centre as a global centre of excellence in teaching, research and engagement with industry and government. The Centre’s activities include Schulich’s 12-month Master of Real Estate and Infrastructure (MREI) program — the first of its kind in Canada and one of only a few in the world – one that builds on the School’s long-existing MBA specialization in real estate and infrastructure. Professor Clayton returned to academia and Canada from global investment manager Barings (formerly Cornerstone), where he was Head of Real Estate Investment Strategy and Analytics. He was responsible for monitoring and forecasting real estate investment and capital market trends, advising on fund and client investment and portfolio strategy, and delivering applied research and strategic thought pieces. He also sat on the equity and debt investment committees and the valuation committee. While at Barings Jim was an Adjunct Professor in the Real Estate Program in the School of Business at the University of Connecticut.
Prior to joining Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, that later became part of Barings, in 2008, he was Director of Research at the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), and prior to that had faculty positions at the University of Cincinnati and Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He currently teaches in executive education programs for NAIOP and the Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac). Jim Clayton is a co-editor of the bi-annual special issue of The Journal of Portfolio Management devoted to real estate, a Fellow, and former President, of the Real Estate Research Institute (RERI), a Fellow of the Weimer School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Land Economics, and a past recipient of a Homer-Hoyt Institute post-doctoral fellowship. He is a member of the PREA Research Committee and a previous co-chair of the PREA Research Affinity Group.
Honours
2015 President of the Real Estate Research Institute (RERI)
2014 Co-chair of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Research Affinity Group
2014 (2010, 2012, 2013) MBA Teacher of the Year Award, Real Estate, University of Connecticut
2012 Invited to present to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)
2011 Named a Fellow of the Real Estate Research Institute (RERI)
2009 Award for best paper published in the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management
2008 Fellow of the Weimer School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Land Economics
2007 Counselors of Real Estate William S. Ballard Award for best feature article in Real Estate Issues
2007 Outstanding editorial board member award, Real Estate Economics journal
2005 Journal of Property Research best paper award, European Real Estate Society (ERES)
Recent Publications
Thomas R. Arnold, Jim Clayton, Frank J. Fabozzi, S. Michael Giliberto, Jacques Gordon, Youguo Liang, Greg MacKinnon, Asieh Mansour (2023), "Twenty Years of the Real Estate Special Issue: What Might the Next Twenty Years Bring?", The Journal of Portfolio Management Real Estate, 49 (10) 11 – 23.
Abstract
The articles contained in the special real estate issue are discussed within the context of three broad trends that are likely to affect the real estate investment industry over the next 20 years: the rise of data science and artificial intelligence, the increasing importance of environmental and social issues to real estate investment, and a broadening of investors’ interest in real estate both geographically and by property sector. Each of these trends has reinforcing effects on the others. Together, these trends appear likely to impact how investment decisions are made, what typical institutional real estate portfolios look like, and how the industry itself is structured. Although it is likely that these forces will have significant impacts, the most impactful trends over the next 20 years might be forces that that no one is even thinking about today.
Sayce, S.L., Clayton, J., Devaney, S. and van de Wetering, J. (2022), "Climate Risks and Their Implications for Commercial Property Valuations", Journal of Property Investment and Finance.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors outline a framework that captures the channels through which physical climate risks could affect cash flows and pricing of income-producing real estate. This facilitates detailed consideration of how the future performance of real estate investments could be affected by such risks. Design/methodology/approach
This is a literature-based investigation that draws on work commissioned by UNEP-FI (Clayton et al., 2021a, b). It extends this work to consider in more detail the channels through which climate risks may impact property performance and the implications for the valuation community. Findings
Recent empirical studies have identified more instances where pricing is reflecting both current and anticipated climate risks. Market valuations cannot properly incorporate climate risk without clear evidence that it is priced by market participants, but valuers can advise clients on the potential for future impacts. Research limitations/implications
While inferences can be made from studies of residential real estate, more research on commercial real estate pricing and climate risk is required to assist valuers and their clients, as well as other stakeholders in the real estate market. Practical implications
Differences between a Market Value and an Investment Value context are considered, and how valuers could and should account for climate risk in each setting is discussed with reference to existing professional standards and guidance. Originality/value
The article synthesises a wide range of literature to produce a framework for the channels by which real estate values could be influenced by climate risk. Clayton, J., Devine, A. (2021), "Beyond Environmental Building Certification: The Impact of Environmental Interventions on Commercial Real Estate Operations", Energy Economics, 93, 105039.
KeywordsAbstract
We extend the commonly-studied definition of investment in sustainable and energy efficient real estate beyond environmental building certification to include three additional types of environmentally-focused building interventions: environmentally-focused capital expenditure (capex); monitoring; and, tenant engagement. Appealing to behavioral economics and finance theory, we test for a connection between changes in tenant and property management behavior and electricity consumption. Through a partnership with a global institutional investment manager, this study examines ten years of asset-level operating statement and electricity consumption data in Canadian and U.S. office buildings, measuring both the initial impact of such interventions as well as any adjustments observed over time. Analysis of the proprietary intervention data allows us to better understand the impact of varied environmental interventions on the electricity consumption of commercial real estate. We find that all four intervention categories, including building certification, are associated with decreased electricity consumption, with tenant engagement providing an immediate decrease that is maintained over time. Environmentally-focused capex is also associated with decreased electricity consumption in both Canada and the U.S. Taken together the results indicate that utility consumption and its associated costs are only minimized when multiple environmental interventions are implemented.
Clayton, J., Fabozzi, F.J., Giliberto, D.M., Gordon, J.N., Liang, Y., MacKinnon, G. and Mansour, A. (2012), "The Expansion of Real Estate", Journal of Portfolio Management, 43(6), 11-22.
Abstract
The definition of commercial real estate for institutional investment purposes is undergoing a change in two ways. First, real estate is increasingly being absorbed upward into more broadly defined asset buckets, such as real assets or private markets, in which the distinction between real estate and the other asset types is becoming increasingly fuzzy. Second, the asset class is expanding downward to include more specialty property types that were previously not considered suitable for institutional investors. In this article, the authors discuss these trends and their causes and consequences and relate them to the other articles contained in this special real estate issue.
Courses Taught
PROP 6001 Leadership in Real Estate
PROP 6150 Economic Forces Shaping the City
Jim Clayton
Director and Timothy R. Price Chair, Brookfield Centre in Real Estate & Infrastructure