What’s Constraining Urban and Economic Growth?

Chandan: “Our urban cores are the engines of innovation where the most productive real estate is located.”

SAN DIEGO—Chronic under-investment in urban infrastructure such as education, transportation and other assets is a mistake because such investment is the only way to sustain growth, said economist Sam Chandan, Ph.D., chair of the NYU Shack Institute of Real Estate, at the 17th Annual Trigild Lender Conference here last week. Millennial migration and retail malaise were among the other topics addressed at the conference, which also featured keynote speakers Peter Muoio, Ph.D, EVP and chief economist at Ten-X; and futurist, author and journalist Michael Rogers.

Chandan kicked off the conference with his keynote presentation, “An Unexpected Journey,” examining commercial real estate and general economic trends. Chandan, who has keynoted the conference for a decade, said the titles of his past Trigild presentations over the years—including “The Hunt for Liquidity,” 2011; “From Expansion to Recovery,” 2013; “An Appetite for Risk,” 2014; and “Signs of the Apocalypse,” 2016—are especially telling. Ultimately, he said, everything matters to the real estate market, especially the underlying performance of the economy and labor market. “Moderate economic growth, improving labor markets and higher interest rates imply flat appreciation.”