News
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...
Of Visioneers and Re-Engineers – MIT/CRE Celebrates Its First Quarter Century
Posted October 26, 2010
The Center celebrated its 25th anniversary graduation weekend with a Who's Who of some of the most celebrated names in real estate research and practice.... Conference on Real Estate Re-Engineering: renowned panelists weighed in on the current meltdown, the fix, and the future. Hines Keynote Address: super-developer Gerald D. Hines shared his five principles of success. Re-Engineering Tour: showcase of three MIT buildings presented real estate re-engineering in action. 25th Anniversary Gala: nearly 300 alumni, students, faculty, friends, and founders saluted the new recipients of the Visioneer and Spaulding awards, then danced till the wee hours.
Big Apple to Slow City: Tony Ciochetti Gets an Overview of Sustainable Building’s Potential
Posted October 26, 2010
The 61st floor of the Empire State Building does not boast a famed observatory, like the 86th. And it is 40 floors lower than the stratospheric summit. But it still offers spectacular views that extend from mid-Manhattan across the rivers and far out into the surrounding countryside. Read Full Article.
Geltner on Bloomberg: "Trophy" Properties Are Up 19%
Posted October 15, 2010
Interviewed by Bloomberg News, MIT/CRE Director of Research David Geltner explains how even in today's flat market, commercial property investors interested in "trophy" properties are driving up prices in six cities – even as the rest of the country hovers near the post-crash bottom. The spike is driven by interest in "good, solid, safe, cash-yielding inflation-protecting investments," Geltner said, "and there are not that many properties on the market.... Demand is really focused because it’s so risk-averse. [Investors] really want just these blue-ribbon cities and these blue-ribbon properties." Read full article.
Wheaton Sweeps Media Trifecta
Posted October 6, 2010
With the release of MIT/CRE Professor William Wheaton's recent proposal on fixing the housing mess (see item following), three of the nation's premier media outlets have sought him out for further comment and forecasting. Fortune Magazine, National Public Radio, and CNBC have been especially interested in Wheaton's bullish view of the housing market, which he sees as poised for a dramatic comeback.
Fixing the Mess: a Proposal
Posted September 10, 2010
The US mortgage pool is currently suffering from two major problems — (1) nearly a quarter of mortgages are "under water," and (2) unemployment fueled by the recession is triggering more delinquencies and defaults. To repair the first problem and help with the second, MIT/CRE Professor William Wheaton has proposed a restructuring of existing mortgages that provides protections and incentives for both homeowners and lenders. Read proposal...
Real estate looks like the next big thing for Soveriegn Wealth Funds (SWFs) according to a Reuters article profiling thesis research by two MIT/CRE students. Co-authors Pulkit Sharma and Yoohoon Jeon, slated to graduate from MIT in 2010, found that SWFs could invest up to almost $290 billion a year in real estate — nearly a tenth of their assets — over the next five years to hedge their volatile source of wealth. Read article.
Alum's Development Blog Scores New York Times Feature
Posted August 20, 2010
Three years ago this month, Alison Novak '06 began a remarkable weekly blog — setting out to chronicle her company's development of the "Third and Bond" residential project in Brooklyn from start to finish. As Senior Project Manager, she reported on the process in candid detail — successes and setbacks — offering a level of transparency that not only won over many critics, but also helped sell units. Read New York Times feature article.
Grads Win 2nd Award for Thesis Research
Posted August 11, 2010
Alumni Ben Bulloch '09 and John Sullivan '09 have been awarded the "ING Most Outstanding Article by a Graduate Student Award" from the Cornell Real Estate Review. The journal invited them to submit a paper after learning about their MIT/CRE thesis — entitled Application of the Design Structure Matrix (DSM) to the Real Estate Development Process — a thesis that previously won the Annual Thesis Award co-sponsored by the New Boston Fund and MIT's Alumni Association of the Center for Real Estate (AACRE). Read MIT/CRE profile of the grads & their work, as well as Cornell RE Review article.
Students Tour Massive Panama Canal Expansion
Posted June 24, 2010
MIT Students enrolled in the the Center's Innovative Project Delivery class joined Professor Chris Gordon to see one of the world's most important modern infrastructure projects — the expansion of the Panama Canal. The group also visited the construction of Panama's new Museum of Biodiversity designed by Frank Ghery, and learned of the particular needs of island developments. Read full article.
Ciochetti Introduces the 1K House to Kenya
Posted May 20, 2010
East Africa is one of the largest single-bloc regional markets in Africa, and it is rapidly transforming from an agricultural to a service economy. Yet amid this transformation, 40% of Kenyans are unemployed, many living in inadequate housing. Center Chairman Tony Ciochetti recently traveled to Kenya to introduce the 1K House, the visionary MIT/CRE project that seeks to design reliable and sustainable houses for the phenomenally low price of $1000 apiece. Read article...
AACRE Annual Real Estate Symposium Forecasts Market Stabilization by End of 2011
Posted May 18, 2010
On the morning of May 7th, the MIT 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. Learn more...
Green Developer Jonathan Rose: "Cities Are the Answer"
Posted April 21, 2010
Long before green was cool, developer Jonathan Rose was putting into practice the "triple bottom line" of people, planet, and profit. He brought his message to the MIT Center for Real Estate on Friday, April 2, 2010, as part of the Center's 25th Anniversary Leaders in Real Estate Series, stressing the vital role that cities must play in a sustainable future. Read feature article...
Partners Meeting 2010 – The Wow of Innovation in Action
Posted April 29, 2010
On March 22-23, Center partners arriving from around the world were treated to a "symphony of innovation" as they saw first-hand the kind of landmark, cross-disciplinary work being done at MIT – from opera sculpture at the Media Lab to the 1K House project at MIT/CRE. Read full article...
Travel Course 2010 "Gets on the Plane"
Posted March 17, 2010
"Approximately 70 percent of all development is happening outside the US," said MIT/CRE Chairman and Academic Director Tony Ciochetti. "You can't sit here on a chair in Boston and be global. Somebody has to get on the plane." This past January, Ciochetti and seven Center students headed abroad for a first-hand look at the real estate industry of England and Portugal. Read full article...
AACRE to Host Graduate Real Estate Case Competition
March 17, 2010
The Alumni Association of the MIT Center for Real Estate (AACRE) is hosting a graduate real estate case competition at the Prudential Center in Boston on April 15 from 6:00-7:30pm. Teams of three to four full-time grad students will receive a brokers packet for a building or development site in Boston, then spend the next 48 hours creating an Excel-based proforma and determining an acquisition price. Prizes will range from $1250 to $500. Read more...
25th Anniversary Lecture Series Continues to San Francisco
Hosted on February 23 by San Francisco's AMB Property Corporation, a talk by Professor Bish Sanyal explored MIT's global initiatives, while a talk by Professor William Wheaton considered industrial and office markets. Learn more...
Wheaton on NPR: Most Homeowners Won't Default
January 27, 2010
Challenging widespread media reports of defaults on homes with "underwater" mortgages, Bill Wheaton cites research suggesting that only the most severely strapped homeowners will default -- a tiny fraction. Listen to & read interview.
