However, the long-term trends remain in place : ”At worst, globalization is on hold,” said Hecker. The Brexit vote and Trump's election may not be advancing the momentum of globalization, he said, but neither have they thrown it into reverse gear.

Moderator Chris Marlin, president of Lennar International, cited the rise of nationalist ”dreams.” Surrounding every construction site in Beijing, for example, is signage with slogans such as ”Made in China 2025.” And Trump, of course, ran on a platform that promised to ”Make America Great Again.”

Hecker said his company is monitoring whether these dreams translate into tariffs and other tax barriers; He noted that were the US to enter trade wars with Mexico and China, Mexico's economy would suffer greatly and China's would be hurt—but there would also be a boomerang effect that would plunge the US into recession.

On the domestic front in the US, Yun said he was encouraged by the outreach from Ben Carson, the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. However, he said, calls by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to undercut the GSEs posed concerns, as have discussions about doing away with 1031 exchanges.

London's then newly-elected mayor, Sadiq Khan, was a strong advocate for continuing the UK's EU membership, deputy mayor Jules Pipe said during a panel discussion later on Tuesday afternoon. When the vote went the other way, Khan launched a campaign titled ”London is Open,” intended to assure foreign-born workers that the UK capital continued to embrace diversity. The city is also exhibiting at MIPIM for the first time;

”The UK and Europe need each other now more than ever,” Pike said. He acknowledged that the unexpected outcome of the referendum has led to uncertainty, and that ”there has been a pause in some projects going forward. But we've seen those pauses before.” Long-term, London will remain a global financial hub, said Pike, adding that Paris and Frankfurt, while fine cities, ”don't have the depth to replicate London's capabilities.”

Miles Gibson, head of UK research for CBRE, told the audience for ”How London is Responding to the Immediate Challenges Posed By Brexit” that his firm has three messqges for clients. The first is that ”Brexit is not the only game in town,” and that many other factors influence the London market.

The second point : make a plan. ”This is going to be a long goodbye” that will occur over the next few years, not a matter of weeks. CBRE's third message : ”Watch the policy, not the politics.”

CANNES, FRANCE—In some elections, voters may sleep soundly in the confidence that they know what the outcome will be after the votes have been counted, only to wake up to an earth-shaking surprise. So it was for those who were certain that Hillary Clinton would become the next President of the United States, and so it was for UK residents who believed their nation would remain in the European Union.

”We don't normally talk about geopolitics at a real estate conference,” said Charles Hecker, global research director with consulting firm Control Risks. ”But geopolitics' moment has arrived , driven by a wave of populism.” Such a wave, he told a MIPIM 2017 audience Tuesday, ”ferried Donald Trump into office.”

Hecker and Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors in the US, addressed the real estate implications of this populist wave in a panel discussion titled ”Ousting the Establishment. What is the Impact on the Commercial Real Estate Industry?” Another session brought together key players in the London market for a close-up view of the impact of the Brexit referendum on that city .

Yun identified nationalism as the phenomenon behind populism in nations as diverse as Russia and the Philippines as well as in the US and UK. That nationalism, Hecker added, is fed in turn by globalization, which may give rise to a feeling among voters that they have been disadvantaged by a global economy.

However, the long-term trends remain in place : ”At worst, globalization is on hold,” said Hecker. The Brexit vote and Trump's election may not be advancing the momentum of globalization, he said, but neither have they thrown it into reverse gear.

Moderator Chris Marlin, president of Lennar International, cited the rise of nationalist ”dreams.” Surrounding every construction site in Beijing, for example, is signage with slogans such as ”Made in China 2025.” And Trump, of course, ran on a platform that promised to ”Make America Great Again.”

Hecker said his company is monitoring whether these dreams translate into tariffs and other tax barriers; He noted that were the US to enter trade wars with Mexico and China, Mexico's economy would suffer greatly and China's would be hurt—but there would also be a boomerang effect that would plunge the US into recession.

On the domestic front in the US, Yun said he was encouraged by the outreach from Ben Carson, the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. However, he said, calls by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to undercut the GSEs posed concerns, as have discussions about doing away with 1031 exchanges.

London's then newly-elected mayor, Sadiq Khan, was a strong advocate for continuing the UK's EU membership, deputy mayor Jules Pipe said during a panel discussion later on Tuesday afternoon. When the vote went the other way, Khan launched a campaign titled ”London is Open,” intended to assure foreign-born workers that the UK capital continued to embrace diversity. The city is also exhibiting at MIPIM for the first time;

”The UK and Europe need each other now more than ever,” Pike said. He acknowledged that the unexpected outcome of the referendum has led to uncertainty, and that ”there has been a pause in some projects going forward. But we've seen those pauses before.” Long-term, London will remain a global financial hub, said Pike, adding that Paris and Frankfurt, while fine cities, ”don't have the depth to replicate London's capabilities.”

Miles Gibson, head of UK research for CBRE, told the audience for ”How London is Responding to the Immediate Challenges Posed By Brexit” that his firm has three messqges for clients. The first is that ”Brexit is not the only game in town,” and that many other factors influence the London market.

The second point : make a plan. ”This is going to be a long goodbye” that will occur over the next few years, not a matter of weeks. CBRE's third message : ”Watch the policy, not the politics.”