Real Estate Supply and Demand Factors

4-Hour Continuing Education | Fully Online | 8 Chapters

Why is a city located where it is? Why do some cities grow while others stagnate or decline? What forces create or close the gap between real estate supply and demand? This course gives real estate licensees the tools to answer those questions with confidence.

Drawing on U.S. Census data, Department of Labor employment statistics, and modern analytical frameworks, this course builds a working understanding of the economic forces behind real estate demand across all property types -- residential, industrial, office, and retail. Students will also be introduced to emerging tools including real-time market data and AI-assisted analysis, and will examine how post-COVID migration and remote work trends are reshaping demand patterns across the country.

Chapter One: Make Use of What the Census Tells Us About Our Country Students learn how to use U.S. Census data as a foundation for understanding real estate demand. Topics include how the census is conducted, what population and household data reveals about a market, and how to interpret demographic trends and population projections to anticipate shifts in demand.

Chapter Two: Explain the Concept of Urban Areas This chapter examines why cities form where they do and how they are classified. Students explore the centralizing and decentralizing forces that shape urban areas, the theories behind city formation, and the economic relationships that sustain them.

Chapter Three: Relate Real Estate Demand and Job Creation Students learn how employment drives real estate demand across all property types. Topics include why cities are different sizes, the factors that influence the shape of a city, the role of basic versus non-basic industries, and how to perform calculations using the employment multiplier and related concepts.

Chapter Four: Formulate Calculations Related to the Theory of Basic Industries This chapter introduces the Location Quotient (LQ) as a tool for identifying basic industries in a local economy. Students learn how to calculate and interpret the LQ using real data from multiple markets, including a detailed application within a single state.

Chapter Five: Examine the Shift-Share Analysis Students are introduced to shift-share analysis as a method for understanding whether changes in local employment are driven by national trends, industry-specific trends, or local competitive factors. The chapter includes worked examples and applications using state-level employment data.

Chapter Six: Contrast the Causes of Growth, Stability, or Decline in Cities This chapter explores the demographic, economic, and lifestyle factors that cause cities to grow, stabilize, or decline. Topics include economic diversification, domestic and international migration patterns, household formation trends, and the ongoing impact of remote work and cost-of-living considerations on population movement.

Chapter Seven: Explain the Demand for Residential Real Estate Students learn how to analyze demand for residential real estate using the gap formula, household data, interest rate trends, and ownership versus rental trends. The chapter covers multifamily rental housing, apartment market analysis, and the factors that drive a household's decision to buy or rent.

Chapter Eight: Interpret Household Characteristics as a Way to Look at Demand The final chapter introduces psychographics as a complement to traditional demographic data. Students learn how market segmentation, customer profiling, media targeting, and site location analysis are used to understand consumer behavior and identify the types of real estate products that will succeed in a given neighborhood.

Course Format: Fully online, self-paced. Includes instructional videos, quizzes, and a pre-course and post-course assessment.

Instructor: Patricia Lynn, CCIM, CDEI -- commercial real estate strategist, founding partner of ExceedCE, and award-winning instructor for the CCIM Institute.