Real estate

You spend a summer helping a bank decide whether to lend against office blocks, warehouses, shops and student housing. The seat is a summer analyst in Commercial Real Estate at Wells Fargo in London, a 10 week placement for students in their penultimate year. Commercial real estate lending means lending to investors who buy buildings, with the building as security. The bank's main questions are what the building is worth and whether the rent it earns can cover the interest on the loan.

The team lends to property investors across the UK, Ireland and core European markets, often with loans built in layers to fit the deal. The buildings are offices, shops, industrial and logistics sites, data centres, homes built to be rented out and purpose-built student accommodation. The borrowers are institutional fund managers, private equity and sovereign wealth funds, and large private property companies.