Prof. Francisco Amaral

Francisco Amaral is Assistant Professor of Real Estate Finance at the University of Zurich. He is also a research fellow at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and one of the co-founders of the German Real Estate Index (Greix).

Professor Amaral's research focuses on understanding the factors that affect prices and returns in real estate markets. “Location, location, location" is not by chance the hallmark of real estate agents; it plays a crucial role in housing markets. Consequently, a significant part of his research is devoted to understanding the patterns and factors that influence the spatial distribution of prices and returns in housing markets. Specifically, he examines how returns to housing investments vary across regions and what factors influence this variation. In his papers, he proposes that the variation in returns is likely a function of risks associated with local housing market characteristics, such as liquidity. In addition, he analyzes the extent to which idiosyncratic risk plays a role in housing markets, which are typically very incomplete markets.

• Financial Markets
  • Central Banks and Monetary Policy
• Portfolio Management and Asset Classes
  • Asset Pricing
  • Real Estate
• Frontier Topics
  • Sustainable Finance