NYC Real Estate Expo Panelists Let It All Hang Loose
A lot of panel discussions are staid affairs, where nothing exciting is said and audience members can safely nod off before the end.
Not so this morning at the panel discussion led by Commercial Observer Deputy Editor Lauren Elkies Schram with industry big shots at the sixth annual NYC Real Estate Expo.
Among the panelists were Gristedes and Big Apple Real Estate owner, and former mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis; Norman Sturner, president and chief executive officer of MHP Real Estate Services; Stephen Siegel, chairman of global brokerage at CBRE; Ofer Yardeni, CEO and managing partner of Stonehenge, and others. Many spoke optimistic words about the state of New York City real estate—with the possible exception of Mr. Yardeni.
With unadorned bluntness, Mr. Yardeni came looking to slaughter the industry’s shibboleths:
#NYCREE yardeni: Murray hill rents are lagging, UES most depressed market in manhattan @commobserver
— Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
A few minutes later Mr. Yardeni unloaded on West 57th Street:
#NYCREE @commobserver yardeni: if re was a market you could short, I’d short 57th Street. — Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
And don’t get Mr. Yardeni started on the High Line:
#NYCREE @commobserver Yardeni: High Line? Completely overrated! How many times can you walk the high line? In my mind we’re in a bubble.
— Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
After railing against the overheated luxury condo market Mr. Yardeni continued:
#NYCREE @commobserver yardeni: I don’t buy an apartment, I can’t afford it! It doesn’t make sense to buy bc carrying costs are so high — Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
This was about all that Mr. Sturner could take. You don’t buy apartments, Mr. Sturner cheerfully chided Mr. Yardeni, you buy whole buildings!
Still, Mr. Yardeni refused to be cowed. While he didn’t say that the market overall was in bubble territory, he did say that luxury condos were:
#NYCREE @commobserver yardeni: this is not sustainable.
— Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
And he got another panelist, Richard Mack, CEO and co-founder of Mack Real Estate Group to agree with him:
#NYCREE @commobserver Mack: edging towards a bubble in super high end lux product. — Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
Of course, any forum that includes Mr. Catsimatidis promises to be at least somewhat amusing. Mr. Catsimatidis opined about interest rates:
#NYCREE @commobserver castimatidis: interest rates will stay low until 2017 post election.
— Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
He expressed his happiness with Tuesday’s election results. (He wasn’t the only one; Mr. Sturner did, too.)
#NYCREE @commobserver castimatidis: GOP senate and house is good. — Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
And he managed to garner some mild applause for shutting the borders and railing against rent control:
Catsimatidis: shut our borders, protect nyers and Americans! #NYCREE @commobserver
— Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
Mr. Mack did not agree:
Mack: foreigners are financing our prosperity. Directly correlated to who feels invited. @commobserver #NYCREE — Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
As the panel wrapped up, Mr. Mack threw in the one piece of solid real estate advice that every developer and pro can take to the bank:
Mack: wifi in a residential building is more important than plumbing. #NYCREE @commobserver
— Max Gross (@SchlubGross) November 6, 2014
