However, there are indications that a 180-degree shift is taking shape in the market, at least one panelist at Tuesday's Grubb & Ellis 2002 real estate forecast indicates.
"The lingering thing that concerns me is the fallout from Sept. 11. The multifamily market concerns me," says Prudential Real Estate Investors vice president of acquisitions Collete English Dixon. "What will happen to the demand for multifamily?"
Already, the local market is starting to see a glut of luxury multifamily product, particularly in condominiums, which is extending into the rental arena as some projects are being switched from the for-sale to the for-rent market.
"We're just starting to see a dropping off of rents in some of the markets," Dixon says. "Investors have a harder time with falling rents than they do with vacancies."
Dixon's bearishness is offset somewhat by Metropolitan Planning Council vice president John McCarron, who notes the market, particularly Cook County, remains faced with a crisis in low- and middle-income multifamily rental units.
Meanwhile, Dixon sees opportunities "for capital that has guts" in downtrodden areas such as hotels, whose investors may be eager to redeploy their capital. "There's going to be opportunities," Dixon says.
DePaul University finance professor and futurist William Poppei agrees, saying aging Baby Boomers will satisfy their yearning to travel.
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