On one of many hot evenings in Austin, the National Associationof Real Estate Editors gathered in Texas to honor journalists andpublications, including Distressed Assets Investor, in 25categories during its 60th annual journalism awards. During NAREE'sconference, held from June 2nd to June 5th, industry experts andthe journalistic elite of the real estate sector informed,questioned and debated various sectors of the economy and realestate.

As keynote speaker of the event, Henry Cisneros addressed thecrowd on Thursday, June 3rd in straightforward terms regarding theups and downs of the tumultuous housing and multifamily market. Ingeneral, his outlook was positive, seeing a robust turnaroundlooming for hotels and apartments.

Much of the conference centered around the economic recovery andon a more moderate scale, the green movement, of which the hostcity is a leading proponent within the us. The general consensus ofthe week was that the economy was turning around, but there wastrepidation to declare that the industry was out of the woods.Moreover, many participants agreed the green movement needed togarner more focus, but would eventually become a standard withinthe development community.