The Chen Institute for Global Real Estate
Welcome to the Chen Institute
The Chao-Hon Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance at the NYU Stern School of Business is a leader in real estate research, teaching, and industry and policy impact.
Through our faculty-led centers and initiatives, applied scholarship, curricular innovation, and sustained dialogue with the private and public sectors, the Institute addresses complex challenges at the intersection of real estate finance and investment, infrastructure, technology and innovation, sustainability, urbanization, and globalization.
Home to the Center for Real Estate Finance, as well as initiatives addressing issues ranging from data science to real estate in emerging economies to the critical challenge of climate change and the built environment, the Institute and its affiliated faculty work to address the most significant questions confronting industry and society.
MBA and Undergraduate Programs
The Institute is the academic home of NYU Stern’s undergraduate and MBA real estate specializations and is recognized among the world’s premier business school programs in real estate. Our students engage with a dynamic, interdisciplinary curriculum that spans finance and investment, sustainability, operations, and technology, offering one of the broadest and most innovative real estate course offerings of any global business school.
Drawing on NYU’s home in the heart of New York City and unrivaled global network of campuses, centers, and partners, students benefit from direct access to industry leaders and private and public sector institutions. Students work closely with a renowned faculty whose research and experience shape practice, policy, and investment strategy across the industry.
From the classroom to the boardroom, the Institute facilitates unparalleled engagement with the global real estate community, preparing the next generation of real estate professionals for leadership in a fast-changing world.
Centers and Initiatives
The Chen Institute is home to research centers and thematic initiatives that address foundational and emerging issues in real estate. The Center for Real Estate Finance, established in 2012, anchors the Institute’s scholarly and policy work on residential and commercial real estate markets. In addition, the Institute spearheads three major initiatives, addressing technology and innovation, climate and public health, and global markets.
The Initiative in Real Estate Innovation (Innovation Initiative) examines how technological innovation is transforming the structure and function of real estate markets, as well as our relationship to the built environment. Areas of inquiry include the innovation ecosystem; pricing, valuation, and risk management; smart building systems; and the application of AI and machine learning in decision-making. Student engagement is facilitated through the Real Estate Data Science and Artificial Intelligence course, the first of its kind among leading business schools. The Initiative is also home to the Institute's incubation and acceleration programs, which advance technologies and applications that hold unusually high promise in disrupting the industry.
The Initiative for Climate and the Built Environment (Climate Initiative) explores the real estate sector’s contributions to climate change and its vulnerability to environmental risks. Research areas include climate risk modeling, property insurance markets, building decarbonization strategies, green finance, and climate migration and housing. A central component of this initiative is the Laboratory for Urban Epidemiology and Public Health in the Built Environment, which investigates how the design and operation of buildings and cities influence public health outcomes, with a focus on pandemic preparedness and the intersection of climate and health across urban populations.
The Initiative in Real Estate in Global and Emerging Markets (Global Initiative) focuses on the institutionalization and globalization of real estate markets in both mature and rapidly developing economies. Drawing on NYU’s international presence, the initiative examines capital flow regulation, governance and legal frameworks, market transparency, and the role of real estate in sustainable urban growth and economic development.
Research and Data Site
The Chen Institute’s Research and Data Site serves as a central platform for accessing the Institute’s data resources, analytical tools, and publications. It hosts academic, applied, and working paper series, alongside interactive tools such as the Decarbonization Compass—a collaborative initiative with Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business—and experimental projects such as ChenGPT, a generative AI assistant that connects the Institute’s faculty, scholars, and students with its real estate knowledge base, data assets, and research tools.
Institute Sponsors
We are deeply grateful to our endowed and annual sponsors for their generous support of student programming, faculty research, and our work at the intersection of industry and public policy.
2025 Leadership Sponsors
Ferguson Partners
2025 Supporting Sponsors
Professor Sam Chandan, the Institute's Founding Director
Dr. Sam Chandan is Founding Director of the Chen Institute, a member of Stern's finance faculty, and a contributor to the World Economic Forum. An economist and epidemiologist, his interests span residential and commercial real estate capital markets, technology-driven disruption in real estate, and urban epidemiology. Prior to Stern, he was dean and Silverstein Chair at the Schack Institute.
Chao-Hon and Charles C. Y. Chen, the Institute's Benefactors
The impetus for this gift is to honor my father, who is a strong believer in the power of education and was the first in our family to attend a major university. He has also been instrumental in building our family business and in driving our family's philanthropy. In his name, I am delighted to partner with the School to endow an enduring hub of thought leadership—Charles Chen (MBA '91)
Annemarie DiCola, Co-Chair of the Institute's Advisory Board
Annemarie DiCola, Esq. is Chief Executive Officer of Trepp, the leading provider of data and technology solutions to the structured finance, commercial real estate, and banking markets. She is an alumna of NYU Law and, in addition to serving as co-chair of the Institute's Advisory Board, is a member of the Advisory Board of the NYU Furman Center.
