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文献信息：
文献标题：Promoting sustainability in the United States multifamily property management industry（促进美国多户型住宅物业管理行业的可持续发展）
国外作者：EA Hopkins，DC Read，RC Goss
文献出处：《Journal of Housing and the Built Environment》,2016,32(2):1-16 字数统计：英文3593单词，21196字符；中文6168汉字
外文文献：
Promoting sustainability in the United States multifamily
property management industry
AbstractEfforts to promote environmental sustainability in the real estate industry continue to proliferate throughout the United States in response to both economic and social forces. This trend has received a considerable amount of attention in the academic literature, yet relatively little is known about the importance of sustainability to third-party property management firms operating in the multifamily sector of the housing market. For those interested in promoting sustainability, an important question that arises is whether barriers to environmentally-friendly business practices commonly observed throughout the housing industry extend to the market for third-party property management services. A second question of equal relevance focuses on determining what sustainability initiatives third-party property management firms are actually using in their efforts to procure new clients or retain existing ones. The qualitative analysis presented in this paper is one of the first to the authors’ knowledge to explore third-party property managers’ perceptions about sustainability in an attempt to address the aforementioned issues. The findings of this study support two overarching conclusions. First, sustainability is increasingly being promoted by large, third-party
property management firms in the multifamily housing industry. Nonetheless, numerous barriers are perceived to exist that may impinge upon future efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the rental housing stock. Second, some firms appear to be better positioned than others to take advantage of sustainability initiatives as a result of the types of properties they manage and the characteristics of the owners they represent.
Keywords: Business strategy, Environmental sustainability, Green buildings, Multifamily housing, Property management
1.Introduction
Efforts to promote environmental sustainability (hereafter ‘‘sustainability’’) in the real estate industry continue to proliferate throughout the United States in response to both economic and social forces. This trend has received a considerable amount of attention in the academic literature, yet relatively little is known about the importance of sustainability to third-party property management firms operating in the multifamily sector of the housing market. Third-party property management firms, defined as those who actively engage in the fee management of apartment communities in which they do not have an ownership interest, act in an advisory role to their clients by providing a wide array of services. These services can include marketing, leasing, budgeting, maintenance and repairs, staffing, property policies and procedures, capital improvements, rent collection, bill payments, establishment of rental rates, and resident relations. This gap in the extant research is noteworthy because these firms manage millions of apartment units across the country and the number continues to grow. There are currently 19.7 million apartment homes in the United States representing $1.3 trillion to the economy and there could be5 million new rental households formed by 2023 (National Multifamily Housing Council 2015). Third-party property management firms are therefore, well positioned to reduce the environmental impact of the rental housing stock if they have the ability, autonomy and inclination to do so when making management decisions.
For those interested in promoting sustainability, an important question that arises
is whether barriers to environmentally-friendly business practices commonly observed throughout the housing industry extend to the market for third-party property management services. Notable examples include a reluctance to embrace new technologies, concerns about implementation costs, skepticism regarding consumer demand, and a lack of clear definitions and communicative frameworks. A second question of equal relevance focuses on determining what sustainability initiatives third-party property management firms are actually using in their efforts to procure new clients and retain existing ones. Gaining a better understanding of these practices is anticipated to shed light on whether sustainability agendas are viewed as an effective way to improve the operational efficiency of multifamily properties or simply as a means of satisfying the corporate social responsibility commitments of institutional real estate owners.
The qualitative analysis presented in this paper is one of the first to the authors’ knowledge to explore third-party property managers’ perceptions about sustainability in an attempt to address the aforementioned issues. A series of semi-structured interviews are conducted with executives representing some of the most prominent firms in the multifamily housing industry to complete the task. Those participating in the research are asked to assess the importance of sustainability to their clients, as well as to identify any sustainable management practices currently being used in the business development process to differentiate their firms from competitors.
The paper begins with a discussion of the property manager’s role in promoting sustainability. Next, consistent barriers encountered in implementation of sustainability initiatives in the housing and rental housing industries are reviewed. An overview of the data and methodology used to examine the extent which firms promote sustainability in their business development process is presented next. This is followed by a summary of the interview results and an analysis of these results. The paper concludes with key findings of the study, research limitations, and issues in need of further analysis.
2.The third-party property manager’s role in promoting sustainability
There are four distinct phases in the building lifecycle where decisions can be made to promote environmental sustainability: material manufacturing, construction, use and maintenance, and end of life (Bayer et al. 2010). Material manufacturing includes activities such as manufacturing raw materials and transportation of these building products, the construction phase includes the activities of the actual building of the project, the use and maintenance phase involves managing the building operations such as energy and water usage and maintenance and repairs, and the end of life phase occurs when the building has reached its end of life and is decommissioned with materials either being disposed to landfills or being recycled and reused (Bayer et al. 2010). Third-party property management firms do not typically have a significant amount of influence in all of these phases, but they are well-positioned to advocate on behalf of sustainability initiatives that affect the way multifamily properties are operated once construction is complete. It is also important to note that the end of life stage can be delayed by effective maintenance which extends the building’s physical life and makes the building more sustainably developed (Christudason 2002). The extant real estate literature outlines a number of steps that can be taken to achieve these objectives. Some of the most commonly cited practices focus on establishing clear channels of communication between property managers and their clients; modifying apartment lease structures to realign the allocation of costs and benefits among the parties involved; and investing in human capital to increase awareness of environmental concerns.
First and foremost, third-party property managers can empower the owners they work for to make more sustainable business decisions by providing them with information. Since these professionals control granular data measuring the operational efficiency of the real estate assets they manage, they can potentially encourage owners to invest in capital improvements promoting resource conservation and other environmentally favorable outcomes if they can clearly illustrate the resultant financial benefits (Wai-chung Lai 2006; Kyro¨ et al. 2012). Property managers can also provide their clients with information about the rent and sales premiums that can potentially be achieved as a result of environmentallyfriendly design features and