These were just some of the high points of the day-long 'RealEstate 2006' conference at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza onMonday. Brokers, lenders, developers and investors speaking atpanels throughout the day tackled a host of issues and fieldedquestions from an audience of 1,200 at the gathering.

The annual conference and networking event is part of theRealShare Conference Series produced by New York City-based RealEstate Media, publisher of GlobeSt.com, Real Estate SouthernCalifornia magazine and Real Estate Forum. The event features paneldiscussions and individual speakers from every realm of thecommercial real estate world.

Pointing out that Southern California has relatively little landavailable for new developments anywhere except in outlying areas, anumber of speakers made the point that the combination of this lackof new construction--along with population growth and the risingdemand for space in commercial buildings of all kinds--is bound toeventually push rents higher for all product types. Anotherprospect the speakers broached is that if prices for investmentproperties have been climbing even in the face of rents that havebeen rising only slightly for several years now, prices will climbeven further if growing demand for space pushes rents higher.