Real estate
‘Real estate’ is a legal term which is used to refer to real, or tangible, property. This includes land and the buildings that are on it, as well as any and all natural resources (e.g. minerals, crops, animals, water), as well as the air rights above the land and underground rights below the land.
The real estate sector is concerned with the buying, selling, renting and developing land and buildings.
The different types of land and buildings real estate include:
- Residential real estate: Used as a living space, e.g. domestic buildings, flats, and so on.
- Commercial real estate: Used exclusively for business purposes, e.g. shops, offices, hotels, restaurants, and so on.
- Industrial real estate: Used for the manufacture and production of goods, e.g. factories, warehouses, chemical plants, and so on.
More detailed classifications are provided by the use class definitions used for planning permission purposes. For more information see: Use class.
NB RICS Valuation – Global Standards, Effective from 31 January 2022, Published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in November 2021, defines real estate as: ‘Land and all things that are a natural part of the land (e.g. trees, minerals) and things that have been attached to the land (e.g. buildings and site improvements) and all permanent building attachments (e.g. mechanical and electrical plant providing services to a building), that are both below and above the ground. (Note that a right of ownership, control, use or occupation of land and buildings is defined as a real property interest in IVS 400 at paragraph 20.2.)’
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