Did Brexit Help Save the US Economy?

View from the Top is held in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton.

LOS ANGELES—“Who knew that Brexit and Goldilocks were living in the same house,” quipped Michael Van Konynenburg, president of Eastdil Secured, at the ninth annual Allen Matkins View From the Top conference. Van Konynenburg gave the economic update at the conference, saying that the US economy was off to a slow start—in fact, he says that we lost a quarter of the year—but helped to fuel growth. “Start off with angst around where we are going, and then Brexit hit in the second quarter.

As a result of the Brexit effect, commercial real estate investment is only down 14% over last year, which isn’t bad considering that we lost a quarter of the year. “People are riding on the edge of their allocation, and many are going back to board and asking for increase in allocations,” Van Konynenburg said in his update. “Selling activity is about the same, but major institutional buying activity is down 50%.”