BCO 2015: A slow recovery has resulted in optimum market conditions for American and British real estate, according to Eastdil Secured’s chief executive Roy March.
Speaking exclusively to Estates Gazette at the BCO Conference in Chicago, March said that the market looked stable despite one of the slowest recoveries in modern history.
He said: “This is a goldilocks period. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. And I see that lasting for the next three years. Beyond that it is hard to say.”
On fears of falling into the same pattern and another recession, he said: “Leverage played a large role in collapse of the financial services industry in the last recession. And while that level of leverage is becoming increasingly available again, fewer people are deploying it.”
He added: “Recessions are usually supply driven and this time around the market has grown substantially, with very little new supply. So while demand has not been where we would like it to be, the supply side of the equation has, we think, made up for that.”
March said that the London market remained a priority for Eastdil Secured because of its safety, openness, geographically desirable position globally and the fact it is “less xenophobic than the United States”.
“As central London becomes more constricted you will see the city’s outer loops, where transport infrastructure is developing, be locations for the next generation of office users and tenants,” said March. “Workers will migrate to what I see as being new 24/7 live/work/play sub-urban markets. Specifically in the east.”
emily.wright@estatesgazette.com
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