Mixed Signals Take Center Stage

LOS ANGELES-The housing market took a big hit when the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading of Southern California-based subprime lender New Century Financial Corp. recently, but capital markets remain strong in the commercial sector. Wall Street continues to price REITs below their net asset value, but private buyers are paying record prices in deals like the Equity Office Properties breakup.

How to reconcile these and other mixed signals in the real estate industry and the economy will be the recurring theme throughout the day on March 27 at the Los Angeles Convention Center when more than 1,000 attendees are expected to gather at Real Estate 2007, the premier annual event in the Los Angeles RealShare series. Rich Kelley, director of the RealShare series, tells GlobeSt.com that this year’s conference will offer more panel sessions than ever before so that attendees will have a chance to examine every commercial real estate sector in detail while still being exposed to broad overview assessments of the industry.

“There is more choice this year and more opportunity to learn and network than ever before because we have expanded the panel sessions to allow attendees to choose the sessions that are most interesting and relevant to them,” Kelley comments. The conference will include 11 panel sessions, plus the keynote address and three special presentations, along with the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Don Koll of Newport Beach-based the Koll Co.