The Real Estate Center at DePaul University hosted its 10th annual spring conference from 7:30 am to noon on Thursday, June 7 at the Union League Club in Chicago with a stellar lineup of speakers.  

Key Note Speaker:  

Sam Chandan, Ph.D. FRICS, President and Chief Economist, Chandan Economics  

He gave a broad look at the economy, with a focus on real estate.

Here are a few observations:

In looking back over the last 3 recessions, the decline in the labor market has been deeper and longer to rebound than the previous recession. Consumer expenditures and retail sales growth are back to about where they were before the great down turn.   Investors continue to worry about the EU debt crisis and as a result are seeking safe harbor in US Treasuries that are providing yields below the inflation rate. As the Federal Funds rate remains low, investors seeking acceptable yield values in excess of inflation are forced into positions of risk in order to reach acceptable yields greater than inflation.   He concluded that there is an uncertain economic outlook, tempered by risks including the fiscal cliff, challenging regulatory environment, and European crisis interventions. Better risk management - by investors and lenders - will prove crucial in navigating a return to sustainable private markets.

Sam Chandan

Two panels followed the keynote address. From Where I Sit panelists included:  

George Kohl, Senior Managing Director, CBRE
Christy Lockridge, Regional Manager, GE Capital Real Estate
Moderated by Charles H. Wurtzebach, Ph.D., George L. Ruff Visiting Professor in Real Estate Studies, Department of Real Estate, De Paul University 

In this conversation the two panelists compared their perspectives on supply and demand of capital, changing occupancy trends by tenants and other critical issues.

Douglas Crocker, Chairman, Pearlmark Multifamily Partners, and an Executive in Residence as well as Founding and Sustaining Sponsor of the Real Estate Center, moderated The View from Above. The panel included:

Debra Cafaro, Chairman and CEO, Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR), an S&P 500 company
David Neithercut, President, Chief Executive Officer and Trustee, Equity Residential
Stephen Quazzo, Co-Founder and CEO, Pearlmark Real Estate Partners, LLC
Kim Redding, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, Brookfield Investment Management Inc.
David Schwartz, Co-Founder and Managing Member, Waterton Associates, LLC

There was broad agreement about the success of multifamily residential and health care real estate throughout the recent downturn; the discussion focused attention on the cost of debt and its impact over the next refinance cycle where rates are expected to rise 400 basis points.  The conversation between this exceptional group of major players in real estate was casual, friendly, and funny in turns.

Panel: View from Above

Over 200 industry professionals attended the event

was the 10th spring conference produced by The Real Estate Center at DePaul University. It was the first to be co-hosted by The DePaul University Alumni Alliance. Sponsors of the event included Origin Capital, Aries Capital, Draper and Kramer, and Northmarq.