Local Pros: Demand--Fueled by Job Growth--Is on the Horizon

NEW YORK CITY-The ebb and flow of jobs in New York City, New Jersey and even India–and how the employment dynamic will impact real estate growth in ’04–was the source of lively debate at this morning’s Fourth Annual New York Conference. The event was sponsored by the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and the Real Estate Lenders Association.

Despite the buzz about offshore jobs, Bruce Mosler, president of US operations for Cushman & Wakefield, passed off the notion that Manhattan would lose jobs to the cheaper workforce of India. “Somewhere, there will always be a cheaper workforce” out of Manhattan, he said. “And that’s not altogether a bad thing if you agree that we are in a global economy. But there is a premium that people are willing to pay to keep their think tank together here.”

Fleet Bank EVP William C. McCahill Jr. noted that the city is poised for renewed job growth–a consideration that will clearly boost the real estate market–since corporations have already done all they could to cut expenses. There’s nothing left, he argued, but to “grow revenues, and the only way to do that is to hire people.” Both McCahill and Mosler agreed that significant real estate demand that those news jobs will create will be evident by midyear ’04.