News Archive 2011
MIT/CRE Founder Dies at 84
Posted November 30, 2011
MIT/CRE founding chairman Charles Spaulding ('51) passed away on November 24th, Thanksgiving Day, at the age of 84. "Hank" Spaulding founded the MIT Center for Real Estate in 1985, launching an innovative graduate education and research program that offered the world's first one-year Masters of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) degree. Learn more...
Geltner Wins Graaskamp, Puts MIT on Top
Posted October 29, 2011
Professor David Geltner won the prestigious James A. Graaskamp Award, making MIT the only academic program anywhere to have two recipients on the same faculty (Professor Bill Wheaton shared the award in 2007). Presented at the Pension Real Estate Association Conference, the Graaskamp Award honors important research in the area of institutional investment in real estate. Learn more...
Wall Street Journal Asks: Build a House for $1000?
September 16, 2011
The short answer is that we're mighty close! As reported by Wall Street Journal blogger Dawn Wotapka, the 1K House project – brainchild of MIT/CRE Chairman Tony Ciochetti – has been implemented in China by MIT Department of Architecture grad Ying chee Chui. Read Wall Street Journal blog and see MIT News Office article.
Wheaton in Fortune: Mortgage Write-Downs for Win-Win
September 1, 2011
In a recent Fortune / CNN article, MIT/CRE Professor Bill Wheaton and Harvard's Kenneth Rogoff propose that the government should facilitate particular mortgage write-downs in exchange for claims on a percentage of future appreciation – potentially making it a win for under-water homeowners as well as for lenders and investors. Read article...
Ciochetti Journeys East with Glad Tidings
Posted August 24, 2011
Even at 500+ miles per hour, a flight to the Far East can take the better part of a day. But MIT Center Chairman Tony Ciochetti welcomes this time to think, work, and prepare – especially true for this multi-city trip, in which the Chairman bears exciting news about the future of the Center. Read article...
Re-Balancing Act: Wheaton and Nechayev Propose Housing Market Solutions
Posted July 20, 2011
The nation's economic recovery is still struggling, due largely to a serious imbalance in the US housing market -- this according to MIT/CRE economist Bill Wheaton and his research partner Gleb Nechayev. To give the economy a needed boost, Wheaton and Nechayev propose a two-pronged solution providing incentives to the crucial players -- borrowers and lenders in the housing market. Read article…
Partners Meeting 2011 Tackles the Big Ones
Posted June 15, 2011
With over 100 in attendance, including partner representatives from as far away as Mexico, Partners Meeting 2011 went head to head with the big questions, the big indices, and big development in China. Read article.
CNN Money Quotes Wheaton
May 13, 2011
CNN Money reports that the nation's small and regional banks are being strangled by the still-troubled commercial real estate market, and industry experts suggest that the worst is yet to come. MIT/CRE economist William Wheaton says that "small commercial projects, the bread and butter of small and regional banks, need more time" before this trend begins to change. Read full article.
New York Times Cites MIT/CRE Index
April 29, 2011
A New York Times article headlined "A Reversal for Real Estate After Some Mild Gains" cites the Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Index -- developed by the MIT Center for Real Estate -- and the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of home prices to look at the current market. "Prices for both homes and commercial real estate are falling again," the article states. "Meaningful improvement may have to wait until there are many fewer distressed properties for sale." Read full article.
Nash Outlines Blackstone's Remarkable Success
Posted April 29, 2011
During the worst recession in living memory, The Blackstone Group has not only gone public, but has expanded dramatically into global markets. How has the company weathered the downturn so successfully? On April 20th, as part of MIT/CRE's Leaders in Real Estate lecture series, Senior Managing Director Michael Nash shared the principles and practices that have guided his firm. Read article.
March Brings Flurry of MIT/CRE Index Citations
April 11, 2011
Winter may be over, but March brought a flurry of media citations of the MIT/CRE Commercial Property Price Index (CPPI), increasingly recognized by market watchers as providing an important gauge of the real estate market. CBS Money Watch joined International Business Times to reference the CPPI, and Bloomberg cited it twice -- first to look at the Blackstone Company and later to look at Grubb & Ellis.
Alums Deliver One-Two Punch
Posted April 10, 2011
MIT/CRE's Alumni Association (AACRE) just produced two separate real estate events back-to-back. The first (March 31st) was AACRE's annual Case Competition, pitting teams of real estate grad students from across the US against each other to find the nation's best. Cornell won this year, with MIT/CRE taking second, and Columbia coming in third. Read press release. The second (April 1st) was a co-production between AACRE and MIT's Sloan Real Estate Club, and was the first MIT Real Estate Symposium – bringing together nearly 160 researchers and industry practitioners from around the region to discuss distressed deals, capital structures, derivatives, and more. Read agenda.
Restructuring, Diversifying, and Leasing are Keys to GGP's Resurgence, Mathrani Says
Posted March 18, 2011
General Growth Properties (GGP), the huge Chicago-based real estate investment trust, is well on its way to recovering from the largest real estate bankruptcy in the nation's history, Sandeep Mathrani told a large audience of MIT/CRE students and faculty at the Media Lab on March 11. Mathrani, who became CEO of the 57-year-old company early this year, spoke at one of the Center’s popular Leaders in Real Estate luncheons. Read article...
Media Cites MIT/CRE Index as Commercial Properties Surge
Posted February 7, 2011
Posting the second-largest gain on record, prices of commercial properties sold by institutional investors surged 19 percent in 2010 – a fact revealed by MIT/CRE's Transaction Based Index. The Wall Street Journal joined Bloomberg Businessweek and CNBC in citing the TBI's results, which may indicate an important milestone in the recovery. Quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Center's Director of Research David Geltner said that other segments of the commercial real estate market will likely follow the rebound as demand spills over and capital follows. He added, however, that while these dramatic gains are encouraging, "It’s a bounce from a bottom. It’s not a surge from some normal level." Read TBI press release...
Has the Housing Market Finally Bottomed Out?
Posted January 24, 2011
Fresh analysis by Gleb Nechayev and MIT/CRE professor Bill Wheaton answers that question by examining the trend in housing prices over the last four decades. The two economists consider whether current house prices in a variety of markets are above or below that trend, then explain why this "trend approach" has true economic meaning. Read article...
