VCU Hosts 20th Annual Real Estate Trends Conference

By Tom Gresham

Several leading industry experts will provide economic and real estate forecasts at the 20th Annual Virginia Commonwealth University Real Estate Trends Conference next week.

The conference, which is organized by the Real Estate Program in the VCU School of Business, will be held on Oct. 12 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Doors open with a continental breakfast at 7:30 a.m. The program starts at 8:30 a.m.

The conference, one of the leading forums in the region for the exchange of ideas and information about real estate, is expected to attract more than 800 people from both the academic and professional ranks, representing segments such as banking, engineering, investments, consulting, valuation, government and brokerage.

Raphael Bostic, Ph.D., assistant secretary for policy development and research for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be the conference’s opening speaker, delivering an overview of the housing market. Bostic is the principal adviser to the secretary of Housing and Urban Development on overall departmental policy, program evaluations, demonstrations and research. He leads a team responsible for providing economic information and analyses of housing and community development statistics and other data.

Ed Friedman, Ph.D., a director of Moody’s Economy.com, will deliver the conference’s closing remarks, providing his take on the overall economic outlook. Friedman contributes monthly summaries of the U.S. financial industry and maintains a high-frequency econometric model used to estimate current-quarter gross domestic product figures.

In addition, the conference will feature a panel discussion regarding commercial real estate finance, focusing on financing in the $2 million to $20 million range. Panelists will include Thomas Burton, vice president and chief investment officer of Alex Brown Realty, Inc.; Bruce Cohen, chairman and chief executive officer of Wrightwood Capital; John Maher, executive vice president of the Commercial Real Estate Group at Hartford Investment Management Company; and Michael McRoberts, vice president of underwriting and credit at Freddie Mac.

For more information, visit the conference’s website at http://www.realestate.vcu.edu/index.html. Online registration will be available at the website through Oct. 6. Walk-in registration is available the day of the event. The price for a ticket is $150.