PA/NJ/DE CCIM Chapter

Economic Forecast Wows with 140+ Attendees

We held our annual Economic Forecast on Jan 22 at R2L Restaurant in Philadelphia. More than 140 commercial real estate professionals from CCIM, SIOR, CREW and IFMA attended the program.

L-R, Lauren Gilchrist, KC Conway, Stacy Martin, president

L-R, Lauren Gilchrist, KC Conway, Stacy Martin, president

Our speakers Lauren Gilchrist from JLL and KC Conway from CCIM Institute provided insight on the labor market, multifamily sector, office availability and a host of other topics.

“I think Philadelphia will be the place where cancer is cured because of the emerging cell and gene therapy sector,” provided Gilchrist, in a fascinating takeaway. She noted that lab rents have remained low despite high levels of occupancy and that the life sciences sector is attracting record levels of venture capital investment.

Conway focused on the global economy and provided that the commercial real estate industry has $4.37 trillion in outstanding debt, a record since 2009. He also noted that millennials owe more student loan debt than the total of all credit card debt in the US.

We thank all those who attended as well as Lauren and KC for their time and insights!