Experts: What a Difference a Year Makes
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Source: Globe St
Globe St reports: LOS ANGELES-"What a difference a year makes." So said moderator Jay Leupp, managing principal of Grubb & Ellis-Alesco Global Advisors, as he opened the discussion of the Market & Economic Update panel at the annual Real Estate 2010 conference. "Things have gotten a lot better. We are back. You are back. And commercial real estate is back. Doesn’t it feel better?" The conference is produced by the RealShare Conference Series, part of ALM's Real Estate Media Group.
Leupp addressed a crowd of more than 1,000 in Downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, where he and a group of panelists provided some realistic insight for 2010. The bad news is that there are still some significant headwinds due to consumer debt and a tremendous amount of government debt, said Hessam Nadji, managing director of research services at Marcus & Millichap. "But there is a lot of positive news," he added. "The evidence of the actual recovery keeps piling up…This will be a staging and a transitional year."
Dr. Sam Chandan, global chief economist and executive vice president of Real Capital Analytics, explained that one of his major concerns looking forward is government intervention. "It is unclear if there is enough consumer confidence without government intervention to sustain the kind of growth that will drive new employment," he said. But the more immediate concern, he said, "is the way that we balance or do not balance budgets in the US."
View the full article on Globe St: Experts: What a Difference a Year Makes
Posted by: Matt Stone