MBA of NY Hosts Second Annual RE & Lending Summit

MBAofNY Conference Committee and Dottie Herman, CEO and president, Douglas Elliman (fourth from right).

NEW YORK CITY—The Mortgage Bankers Association of New York’s second annual Strategic Real Estate & Lending Summit—themed “Building a Better New York”—was held earlier this month in Midtown.

The event kicked off with a discussion among commercial real estate economists, including Ryan Severino, senior economist, REIS; Heidi Learner, chief economist, Savills Studley and Eric Lewis, executive managing director of valuation, Cushman & Wakefield. The panelists reassured attendees that fundamentals across market classes remain relatively strong, and the slower-than-expected start to 2016 should not be interpreted to mean that anything is inherently wrong with the market.

The remaining morning sessions included a panel addressing vendor management requirements in the post Dodd-Frank environment; an exploration of how technology is streamlining the lending process and reducing origination costs, and a regulatory update.