WASHINGTON, April 19, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CoStar Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSGP) today announced that the American Real Estate Society (ARES), an association of real estate thought leaders whose members include leading global academic and professional researchers, has selected a recent study co-authored by CoStar Group executives and published in the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management (JREPM) to receive the "Best Paper Award" for 2010.
The award-winning study, "Slicing, Dicing, and Scoping the Size of the U.S. Commercial Real Estate Market," is believed to be the first analysis to document the full size and scope of the commercial real estate market using direct measurement of commercial property, with additional tests used to size the hospitality and multi-family markets, providing a much more accurate and precise determination of market size than previous commonly cited estimates.
Analyzing the extensive data available in CoStar's comprehensive database of U.S. commercial property, the rigorous study established the total market value of commercial real estate in the U.S. at $11 trillion at the time the study was conducted. In addition to benchmarking commercial real estate as a major asset class, the direct measurement calculations used in the study also provided an important framework for analyzing the investment potential of commercial real estate within different markets and by different commercial property types.
Andrew Florance, CoStar Group's Founder and CEO; Dr. Ruijue Peng, Chief Research Officer for Property and Portfolio Research, a CoStar subsidiary; Jay Spivey, Senior Director of Analytics for CoStar Group; and Dr. Norm Miller, Professor and Director of Academic Programs at the University of San Diego's Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, authored the study. The winning paper was published in Volume 16, Number 2 edition of JREPM. Its selection as "Best Paper" was made by the more than 1,000 members of ARES and presented at the group's 2011 annual meeting held, April 13 -16, 2011 in Seattle, WA.
"Before this study, we had limited means of assessing the size of the commercial real estate market as a whole, and could only estimate the full size and value of this increasingly important asset class," noted Dr. Glenn R. Mueller, professor at the Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management at the University of Denver, and one of the Journal's editors. "For the first time, we now have the means to use direct measurement to produce a much more accurate and precise valuation, which is critical for investors as well as researchers. At 11 trillion dollars, U.S. commercial real estate approaches the size of the U.S. stock market at 16 trillion dollars. I am excited at the prospect for further analysis on commercial property afforded by CoStar's research database."
"We're extremely pleased to receive this outstanding recognition from the leading sponsor of academic research in real estate," said Andrew C. Florance, CoStar Group's founder and CEO. "In quantifying the vast majority of commercial real estate information, CoStar is bringing greater transparency, enabling investors and others to make decisions more effectively, and ultimately supporting greater levels of investment in this important asset class."
This is the second research paper authored by CoStar executives that has won a "Best Paper Award" from ARES. Florance, Spivey, and the University of San Diego's Miller previously won the award for a study they produced entitled, "Does Green Pay Off?" which was published in the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management in 2008. That paper was believed to be the first systematic analysis of property data to document the income premium associated with 'green buildings' in rents, occupancy rates and sale prices.
CoStar Group continues to be an active supporter of academic research involving the built environment. As part of its ongoing efforts to increase awareness of energy efficiency issues in real estate, CoStar joined with the American Real Estate Society to sponsor The Journal of Sustainable Real Estate (JOSRE), a real estate monograph series with the goal of publishing a collection of research papers addressing sustainable real estate issues. Research papers have been accepted for the third issue in the series, which is expected to be published later this year. Additional information on JOSRE is available on CoStar's Web site at http://www.costar.com/josre/.
In addition to sponsoring additional academic research, CoStar offers qualified university professors and their students full access to its comprehensive online information services for use in their research and in the classroom. More than 4,000 professors and graduate students at more than 150 universities have participated in the program, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Wharton School of Business, Northwestern University, Cornell University, The Johns Hopkins University, The University of Colorado, Marquette University, the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, the University of Reading, the University of Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt University. Additional information on the CoStar University program can be found at http://www.costar.com/specialprograms/costaruniversity.aspx.
About the American Real Estate Society
The American Real Estate Society (ARES), founded in 1985, is an association of real estate thought leaders. Members are drawn from academia and the profession at large, both in the United States and internationally. The Society is dedicated to producing and disseminating knowledge related to real estate decision-making and the functioning of real estate markets. For more information, visit http://www.aresnet.org/index.phtml.
About CoStar Group, Inc.
CoStar Group (Nasdaq:CSGP) is commercial real estate's leading provider of information, analytic and marketing services. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. Our suite of online services enables clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on commercial property values, market conditions and current availabilities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar maintains offices throughout the U.S. and in Europe with a staff of approximately 1,500 worldwide, including the industry's largest professional research organization. For more information, visit www.costar.com.
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" including, without limitation, statements regarding CoStar's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. More information about potential factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those stated in CoStar's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CoStar's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 under the heading "Risk Factors." In addition to these statements, there can be no assurance that CoStar's study is the first analysis to document the full size and scope of the commercial real estate market using direct measurement of commercial property, that the total market value of commercial real estate in the U.S. is $11 trillion, that the size of the commercial real estate market approaches the size of the U.S. stock market, that this size of the U.S. stock market is $16 trillion, or that by quantifying the vast majority of commercial real estate information, investors and others will be able to make decisions more effectively, ultimately supporting greater levels of investment in commercial real estate. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar assumes no obligation to update such statements.