MRE students are able to take three elective courses during the in-residence portion of the program and an additional three elective courses with program director permission. Elective courses fall into two categories. First are those specially created for MRE students. Second are the many courses offered by the three departments of the school as well as courses offered at other Harvard schools.

MRE Elective Courses include the following:

Fall Term

Affordable Housing and Community Development (4 units)

Race and Real Estate (2 units)

It Takes a Village (2 units)

Spring Term

Learning From Failure I and II (4 units)

International Real Estate and Urban Development (4 units)

Climate Change and Real Estate (2 units)

Real Estate Private Equity and Capital Markets (2 units)

Other elective courses of interest to MRE students that are currently offered or have been offered recently include the following:

For a detailed description of each elective, please view the Course Catalog.

SES-5367 U.S. Housing Markets, Problems, and Policies
ADV-9127 Real Estate and City Making in China
SES-5438 Designer Developer
SES-5375 Contemporary Developing Countries: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Intractable Problems
SES-5213 Equitable Development and Housing Policy in Urban Settings
SES-5397 Cities and the Urban Informal Economy: Rethinking Development, Urban Design and Planning
SES-5206 Land Use and Environmental Law
SES-5201 Urban Politics, Planning, and Development
HIS-4384 Building and Urban Conservation and Renewal – Assessment, Analysis, Design
HIS-4374 Cities, Infrastructures, and Politics: From Renaissance to Smart Technologies
SES-5440 Public Finance for Planners: Creating Equitable and Sustainable Communities
SES-5437 Transportation Economics and Finance
SES-5347 Urbanization and Development
SCI-6125 Building Simulation
SCI-6361 Health and Buildings
SES-5326 Housing and Urbanization in the United States
SES-5337 Housing and Urbanization in Global Cities
SES-5393 Local Government Solutions to America’s Affordable Rental Housing Challenge
SES-5442 New Towns and Affordable Housing Development in Africa
SES-5433 Modern Housing and Urban Districts: Concepts, Cases and Comparisons
SES-5486 The Gentrification Debates: Perceptions and Realities of Neighborhood Change
SES-5435 Land Policy and Planning for Equitable and Fiscally Healthy Communities
HIS-4468 On Architecture and Property
HIS-4479 Power & Place: Culture and Conflict in the Built Environment
SES-5210 Cities by Design
SES-5215 Analytic Methods of Urban Planning: Quantitative
SES-5216 Analytic Methods of Urban Planning: Qualitative
HIS-4115 Histories and Theories of Urban Interventions
SES-5380 Experimental Infrastructures
SES-5381 Urban Design and the Color-Line
SES-5382 Making Participation Relevant to Design
SES-5409 Climate Justice
SES-5420 Urban Design for Planners
SES-5446 Inclusive Cities in the Global South: From Development Narratives to Urban Forms
SES-5447 Climate by Design
SES-5497 Public Space
SES-5502 Urban Governance and the Politics of Planning in the Global South
SCI-6121 Environmental Systems 1
SCI-6122 Environmental Systems 2
VIS-2128 Spatial Analysis
DES-3336 Landscape Fieldwork: People, Politics, Practices

Interested in the MRE program?

For general inquiries about the Master in Real Estate program, please email [email protected] or call 617-495-6120, Monday-Friday 9:00 AM-5:00 PM ET. If you would like to be entered in our database and receive future mailings, please fill out the Contact Form.