"Real Estate Market Thought to Rebound in 2011"

AACRE Holds Annual Real Estate Symposium

By Jodie C. Poirier

Posted May 21, 2010

On the morning of May 7th, the Center for Real Estate Alumni Association (AACRE) held its annual Real Estate Symposium, featuring opening remarks from Jones Lang LaSalle CEO of the Americas, Peter Roberts, and keynote speaker, Congressman Barney Frank. A distinguished panel of experts from industry, government and academia offered their perspective on the changing real estate landscape by examining the balance between government intervention and private capital as well as emerging policy-driven opportunities.

In his opening address, Lessons from the Front, Navigating the Storm and Preparing for the Future, Peter Roberts set the stage for the morning’s discussion by looking back at the “Great Recession” and presenting an economic outlook of the commercial real estate environment. He offered his perspective that, despite some recent positive economic indicators, such as GDP growth and a rebound of the equity markets, the outlook for commercial real estate has not materially improved. Throughout the rest of 2010 and into 2011, commercial real estate will take steps towards recovery as employment bottoms, cap rate expansion ends, rents bottom, and vacancy peaks. He estimated that by the end of 2011, the market will stabilize and begin to show modest growth. However, one question he proposed is, “what will propel expansion going forward, after the remaining funding from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other incentives is paid out, and inventories return back to normal levels?”

With the stage of the current commercial real estate environment set, Katharine Bachman, Partner and Vice Chair of the Real Estate Practice Group at WilmerHale, moderated a pane of speakers that included, Yolanda Kodrzyski, Director, New England Public Policy Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Brian Kavoogian, President, Charles River Realty Partners, Howard Cohen, CEO of Beacon Communities, and William Wheaton, Professor of Economics, MIT. The panel speakers shared their perspective on the state of the real estate market and discussed the role of government regulation and intervention. The panel offered their opinions on a broad range of topics from sovereign debt defaults to domestic housing demand while speculating on the long term impacts of recent national policy decisions.

The event closed with a keynote address from the Honorable Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services committee who offered his perspective on the events that led to the Great Recession as well as his opinions on current regulatory reform efforts. Congressman Frank also addressed questions from the audience on issues of finance, foreign policy and the role of government in private markets.

For more information about this event or the MIT Center for Real Estate Alumni Association, please email aacre@mit.edu.

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