Chandan: Don't Bank on Low Interest Rates

NEW YORK CITY-The fact that the economic baseline for 2013 looks better than last year’s is important, Dr. Sam Chandan, president and chief economist of Chandan Economics, said Wednesday at a forecast breakfast cosponsored by his firm and Avison Young. Domestic GDP growth, for example, is projected at 2.2%, ahead of the 1.9% achieved in 2012. However, he said, “The fundamentals are not keeping pace with what we see happening with investment.”

Apartments, for example, have been the “poster child” among the major property sectors, but multifamily’s success is tied in part to a “complex relationship” with the single-family housing market, Chandan said at Wednesday’s event, held at the Cornell Club in Midtown. Once housing starts and prices begin picking up, as they eventually will, apartments’ luster may start to dim.