Lew Sichelman

Peter Holland, the director of international property economics at Urbis, has been tapped to organize ULI in Australia. Holland works with a wide range of clients in mature and emerging markets for Urbis, a professional consulting firm.
A massive project on reclaimed land in Darling Harbour has no small goal: redefining Sydney as a hub of Asia Pacific commerce.
New supply is still far short of demand, say panelists at a Denver conference. Even if developers wanted to overbuild, there’s not enough capital—or taste for risk—available to do it.
Panelists at ULI’s Spring Meeting agreed that strategies never considered before are worth considering now in this market in which renting seems to have more appeal than buying. However, George Casey, chief executive officer at Orleans Homebuilders, noted that Orleans is building fewer models and foot traffic is slower per community, but sales are greater.
ULI members Glenn Grimaldi, executive vice president of HSBC; David D. Clark, senior vice president, Real Estate, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.; and Kevin Pivnick, managing director, Deutsche Bank, all described a healthy mortgage market in which only the long shots are having trouble finding funding these days. In a session titled “Full Court Press on Commercial/Apartment Debt” at ULI’s 2012 Spring Meeting, all three described how they each tend to look at potential deals a bit differently.
Amory Lovins, cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, told an audience of ULI members at ULI’s 2012 Spring Meeting, that there are numerous ways to reduce use of fossil fuels. Doing so, corporate America could earn a $5 trillion savings in net present value and boost the economy by 150 percent.
As long as lenders keep a tight grip on their wallets, the much-anticipated trend toward smaller houses probably won’t materialize, according to data presented at the NAHB’s recent annual convention.
After a year in which housing starts were the lowest since 1942 and new home sales were the lowest ever, David Crowe, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), isn’t complaining and points toward a modest rebound in the new home market in 2012.
At its annual commercial real estate/multifamily housing convention in Atlanta, the Mortgage Bankers Association projected a 17 percent increase in commercial real estate loan originations this year, while several observers weren’t nearly as positive.
Speaking across the street from Disneyland at the National Association of Realtors’ annual convention in Anaheim, California, earlier this month, chief economist Lawrence Yun said signs are developing that signal a “recovery occurring next year and continuing into 2014.” Read more to learn about what he said will be a moderate, respectable recovery—rather than a great, robust expansion.
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