Highlights from the 2015 VCU Real Estate Trends Conference in Richmond, Virginia
Members of Sands Anderson's Commercial Real Estate Law practice group were once again pleased to sponsor and attend the annual VCU Real Estate Trends Conference in Richmond, Virginia. The conference brings together individuals from throughout the world of commercial real estate to discuss the burgeoning issues of today's marketplace. This year, conference attendees enjoyed a number of dynamic presentations, including a panel discussion between Secretary of Commerce and Trade Maurice Jones and Michael Rubinger, President and CEO of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, as well as a keynote speech from best-selling author Erik Qualman exploring digital trends and the impact of social media in today's market.
Mary Ludgin, a partner at Heitman and director of its Global Investment Research, also provided conference participants with an in-depth analysis of the current global commercial real estate market in her presentation titled "US Real Estate Market: Well Positioned Despite Global Turbulence." Ms. Ludgin highlighted a variety of different topics that may be of particular interest to commercial real estate investors. Overall, Ms. Ludgin observed strong private equity real estate returns despite sluggish GDP growth. She also discussed the increasing frequency of foreign investment in the US real estate market, particularly from investors in Australia and Asia that were not as significantly impacted by the global financial downturn, as well as from those formerly looking to Europe for real estate investment. Domestically, Ms. Ludgin charted robust NOI growth across property types, citing the strongest positive trends in the apartment sector.
Ms. Ludgin closed with a number of helpful investment themes for commercial real estate investors to consider. Fortunately, she was kind enough to provide her slides discussing these themes and the other topics presented, which can be accessed here.
Sands Anderson was pleased to be a sponsor of the 2015 VCU Real Estate Trends Conference and looks forward to more engaging and informative presentations in the years to come. For assistance with commercial real estate issues, please feel free to contact us.
