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Commercial Building at Night

HERMAN DONNER

I am an Associate Professor of Real Estate Economics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. I have a broad interest in urban economics, housing policy, and  real estate markets. 

 

Beyond real estate, I have also researched how digitalization and technology will impact business models, and the impact of financial innovation on consumer finance.

This website provides an overview of my research and teaching.

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY: 

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I am an Associate Professor in Real Estate Economics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.  I have a broad interest in real estate and urban economics. I have published papers on topics such as the pricing of foreclosed properties, the income-distributional effects of rent control, informational asymmetries on the housing market and office rent determinants. I have publications in journals such as the Journal of Housing Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Research, the Journal of Housing and the Built Environment and Stockholm University Law Review.

Since earning my PhD in 2018, I I have been a visiting graduate student, postdoc, research director and lab director at Stanford University where I conducted applied research that broadly related to how technology impacts society. Recent work includes an analysis of the impact of earned wage access on household financial wellbeing, and a paper that outlines how the internet of things (IoT) will impact business models across different industries. 

As the Research Director of the Digital Cities Corporate Affiliate Program at Stanford School of Engineering, I was a liaison between Stanford labs and over 20 corporations - including 3M, Bain, Medtronic, Jones LangLaSalle, Verizon and Visa - developing partnerships, identifying opportunities and managing research projects across all fields of research. In this role, I wrote a report on smart city technologies for mobility on behalf of Visa Inc, which was presented at the 2019 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

I am a Swedish citizen, and I have been engaged in several policy-related research projects in my Sweden, such as co-authoring a report on the distributional effects of rent control for the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council (a government agency that advises the Swedish government on fiscal policy), and developing the now adopted best practice guidelines for appraisal of development land for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in Sweden. 

I am active in local politics in my hometown of  Vaxholm, Sweden, as a twice elected member of city council (elections of 2014 and 2018) and a member of the building committee. I was the Moderate party candidate for chairman of the city executive committee (mayor) in the 2018 election. My primary drivers are improving the quality of schools, infrastructure, and new housing development. 

 

I hold a PhD in Real Estate Economics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology. I have been a Postdoctoral Researcher at at Stanford School of Engineering, where I also conducted research during my PhD studies. I have also been a visiting scholar at the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington University School of Business. 

I hold BSc and MSc degrees with real estate finance concentrations from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and have studied law at Stockholm University.

RESEARCH

Published Academic Papers:

  1. Donner, H. and Kulander, M. 'Analyzing the relationship between housing and social engagement among the elderly'. Journal of Aging and the Environment.

  2. Donner, H. and Kopsch, F. (2023) 'An income-distributional analysis of the rent control subsidy'. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment.

  3. Donner, H. and Steep, M. (2021) 'Monetizing the IoT Revolution'. Sustainability.

  4. Donner, H.(2020) 'Determinants of a Foreclosure Discount'. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment,35 (4), 1079-1097.

  5. Caesar, C., Donner, H. and Kopsch, F. (2019). ‘The Impact of Leasehold Status on Apartment Price’, Journal of Housing Economics, 46, 1016292

  6. Donner, H. and Loh, T. (2019). ‘Does the Starbucks Effect Exist? – Searching for a Relationship Between Starbucks and Adjacent Rents’, Property Management, 37(4), 562-578.

  7. Donner, H. and Kopsch, F. (2018). ’Housing Tenure and Informational Asymmetries’, Journal of Real Estate Research, 40(2), 155-177.

  8. Donner, H. (2017). ’Foreclosures, Returns, and Buyer Intentions’, Journal of Real Estate Research, 39(2), 189-213.

  9. Donner, H, Englund, P., and Persson, M. (2017). ‘Hyresregleringens fördelningseffekter’ (‘Distributional effects of rent control’, in Swedish), Ekonomisk Debatt (Journal of the Swedish Economic Association), (8)45, 37-50.

  10. Donner, H., Song, H-S. and Wilhelmsson, M. (2016). ’Forced sales and their impact on real estate prices’, Journal of Housing Economics34, 60-68. 

  11. Donner, H. and Persson, A. H. (2015). ’När är det sannolikt att ett avsevärt mycket högre pris kan uppnås vid en exekutiv försäljning av fast egendom?’ (’When is it likely that a considerably higher price can be achieved for a sale of foreclosed property?’, in Swedish), Juridisk Tidskrift (Stockholm University Law Review)(1),15-35

Policy Papers / White Papers:

  1. Donner, H. and Steep, M. (2020). “Urban movement as a data generating activity“, World Car Free Day London Summit 2019.

  2. Donner, H. (2018). ‘Värdering av råmark, byggrätter, och projektfastigheter: arbetssätt, problem och slutsatser’ (’Appraisal of development land and projects: methods, problems and conclusions’, in Swedish), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) / KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

  3. Donner, H., Englund, P., and Persson, M. (2017). ‘Distributional Effects of Deregulating the Stockholm Rental Housing Market’, Swedish Fiscal Policy Council.

  4. Donner, H. (2019) ‘Technology Landscape Survey’, Visa Inc.

Working Papers:

  1. Donner, H. 'The Impact of Rent Control on Housing Consumption'

  2. Donner, H. 'Youth Displacement in Rent-Controlled Housing: The Impact of Housing Queues in Stockholm'

  3. Donner, H. and Siciliano, D. 'The Impact of Earned Wage Access on Household Liquidity and Financial Well-Being'

  4. Donner, H. 'A Model for Collaborative Value Creation'.

  5. Donner, H. 'Predicting Energy Leakage: a Data Driven Sustainability Roadmap Using EPC Data.

  6. Donner, H. Steep, M., and Peterson, T. (2019). 'Crossing the Urban Data Layer: Mobility as a Data Generating Activity", Working Paper Series, Stanford Global Projects Center, 2019.

  7. Donner H., Eriksson, K., and Steep, K. ‘Digital Cities: Real Estate Development Driven by Big Data’, Working Paper Series, Stanford Global Projects Center, 2018.

PhD Thesis:

Selected Presentations:

  • 2024: Western Regional Science Association Annual Meeting, Monterrey, CA; American Real Estate Association Annual Conference Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL.

  • 2023:  Western Regional Science Association Annual Meeting, Kona, HI.

  • 2022: American Real Estate Society, Annual Meeting, Bonita Springs, FL.

  • 2021: American Real Estate Society, Annual Meeting (online); RealPlay, Podcast

  • 2019: VivaTech: How tech will shape urban environments, San Jose, CA (panelist); Disruptive Technologies and Digital Cities Annual Summit, Stanford CA (keynote); Orange Telecom Corporate Council on Smart Cities, San Fransisco, CA. 

  • 2018: Stanford University Disruptive Technologies and Digital Cities Affiliate Meeting, Stanford, CA; American Real Estate Society, Annual Meeting, Fort Myers, FL (session chair).

  • 2016: American Real Estate Society Annual Meeting, Denver, CO; American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association Intl. Conference, Alicante, Spain

  • 2015: American Real Estate Society Annual Meeting, Fort Myers, FL; Western Regional Science Association Annual Meeting, Tucson, AZ.

  • 2014: Western Regional Science Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Awards and Grants:

  • 2022: Nova111 Sweden. Listed on the most promising under 35 list, one of 10 in the category of NGOs and social impact.

  • 2021: American Real Estate Society, Best Paper Award for Housing

  • 2017: Sweden-America Foundation Scholarship for graduate studies in the US

  • 2012: The Large Property Prize for best thesis in the field of real estate, in Sweden

TEACHING

I have taught at the undergraduate, graduate and executive education level. My primary area of teaching is corporate finance, portfolio theory and real estate finance. 

At KTH Royal Institute of Technology:

  • Fall 2024: Real Estate Finance and Investment (Undergraduate, Course Responsible Lecturer)

  • Spring 2024: Introductory Microeconomics (Undergraduate, Lecturer), Corporate Finance (Graduate, Lecturer)

  • Fall 2023: Real Estate Finance and Investment (Undergraduate, Course Responsible Lecturer)

  • Spring 2023: Introductory Microeconomics (Undergraduate, Lecturer)

  • Spring 2018: Applied Mathematics and Statistics for Economists (Undergraduate, Course Responsible Lecturer)

  • Summer 2017: Construction Economy, Calculation and Financing (KTH Executive Education, Lecturer)

  • Fall 2015, 2016: Introductory Econometrics (Graduate, Teaching Assistant)

  • Fall 2016: Real Estate Finance and Investment (KTH Executive Education Norway, Lecturer)

  • Fall 2016: Fundamentals of Residential Real Estate Finance (Undergraduate, Teaching Assistant)

  • Spring 2016: Introductory Microeconomics (Undergraduate, Teaching Assistant)

  • Spring 2014, 2016: Credit Risk Assessment (Undergraduate, Course Responsible Lecturer)

  • Spring 2014, 2015:Property Valuation (Undergraduate, Teaching Assistant)

  • Spring 2013: Organization an d Management (Undergraduate, Lecturer)

  • Spring 2014, 2016, 2018: Supervision of Bachelor’s and Master’s Theses

At Stanford University:

  • Spring 2019: Infrastructure Finance (Graduate, Guest Lecturer)

 

Other Teaching:

  • Spring 2013, Fall 2014: Developed and taught a course in real estate economics for financial advisors

CONTACT

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