NYC Real Estate Summit Provides Perspective, Insights Into Global Real Estate Market
John Jordan | October 5, 2017
NEW YORK—More than 400 real estate professionals gathered at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel here on Oct. 2 to attend a daylong summit that offered the latest trends, opportunities and data points on the global real estate market from more than 25 industry movers and shakers from around the world.
The 11th Global Real Estate Summit & Expo was presented by the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors and the Staten Island Board of Realtors, along with premier sponsor the National Association of Realtors.
In their joint welcome message to attendees at the summit, SIBOR Director Ron Molcho and HGAR President Dorothy Botsoe, who served as co-chairs of the summit, cited statistics from NAR that spoke to the massive global investment taking place in the United States. For example, according to NAR’s 2017 Profile of International Activity in U.S. Residential Real Estate, from April 2016 to March 2017, foreign buyers and recent immigrants purchased $153 billion of residential property in the U.S. On the commercial side, 47% of Realtors surveyed reported an increase in the number of international clients over the past five years, while 40% reported they are confident they will see increased sales and leasing activity from foreign sources in 2017.
The keynote speaker at the event was Paul Boomsma, president, Luxury Portfolio International and COO of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, who spoke on the lucrative global real estate markets and provided data to show the tremendous opportunities that exist in luxury global real estate sales.
Boomsma highlighted the key findings of Luxury Portfolio International’s recently released 2017 Global Luxury Real Estate Report that highlighted key differences between luxury residential investors in North America, Europe, the Middle East/North Africa and Asia Pacific.
The report released on Sept. 27th at the firm’s global symposium in Vienna, Austria indicated an ongoing global seller’s market with 25% of high-net-worth individuals interested in purchasing luxury real estate but only 17% planning to sell. The Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions are expected to see the highest levels of interest in purchasing and certain high-demand markets worldwide will face continued pressure.
Boomsma highlighted some of the key motivators for each market and how they are markedly different in some cases and the changing buying preferences in luxury real estate across the globe.
He noted that the U.S. is still viewed as a safe haven for foreign investment. He also dispelled some speculation of a possible real estate bubble, noting that approximately half of the U.S. has not fully recovered from the recession that ended eight years ago.
Boomsma also noted that while the millennials are driving economic growth baby boomers are driving cross border real estate.
Some of the findings from the Global Luxury Real Estate Report he highlighted included:
• The Asia-Pacific region has seen 21% growth in its $10-million or more net worth population since 2015.
• North America contains the largest number of $10-million or more net worth households and has seen growth of 146% in that demographic since 2010.
• The top reason given by luxury consumers for purchasing a new home was to improve their quality of life.
• 82% of luxury consumers state their privacy has never been more important.
• 61% of potential U.S. high-net-worth buyers stated that security is what they are looking for in a home purchase.
“Cross border business is alive and well,” Boomsma said, noting that cross-border investment has increased $6.7 billion in spite of Brexit and other political and economic tumult that exists across the globe.
A spirited and informative morning session panel moderated by Houlihan Lawrence President Chris Meyers offered a unique and global perspective on the rules of international engagement from a panel of veteran domestic and global real estate brokers. The panel featured: Faith Hope Consolo, chairman, retail leasing, marketing and sales division for Douglas Elliman Real Estate; Maria Babaev, associate broker, Douglas Elliman Real Estate; Kellee Buhler, Associate Broker, Compass; Nikki Field, senior global real estate advisor and Associate Broker for Sotheby’s International Realty; Anne Miller, director, business alliances for RE/MAX; Lana Plat, Broker-Owner, Improve Action Realty, Ontario, Canada and Vanessa Saunders, Principal Broker/CEO of Global Property Systems headquartered in White Plains.
Meyers said that while the old adage of “Location, Location, Location” still holds true for real estate investors, “For those of us practitioners in the brokerage world it is all about relationships and how you build credibility as you create and foster relationships and earn those referrals and opportunities,” he said.
Consolo said that while marketing savvy and international reach may be important there is one bottom line—“You have to be able to produce.” She also told the gathering that Realtors must have market knowledge to achieve any success in the off-shore real estate sector.
The panel provided some helpful hints for those interested in pursuing global real estate opportunities, including building relationships with wealth management professionals and advisors, as well as with immigration attorneys.
The summit also featured a host of real estate panels throughout the day that covered the latest real estate technology, social media, the impact of millennials and assessing their real estate needs, as well as international trends and opportunities and organized real estate across the globe.
The summit began with a presentation by HGAR Director of Leal Services and Professional Standards Administrator Leon Cameron Esq., who gave an informative presentation on “Law of Agency” that offered one-hour continuing education credit.
The summit was concluded by an address by HGAR President Botsoe, Broker/Owner of Dorothy Jensen Realty, Inc. of White Plains.
The event also featured a number of sponsors and booth holders including; A.S.A.P. Mortgage Corp., American, Homes Group, Community Home Brokerage, LLC, CoreLogic & Clareity, Cornerstone Realty, Dolgetta Law, LLC, Emigrant Mortgage, Empire State Bank, Empire State Realty Servcies, Exit Realty Liberty Homes, Expresso Agent, FIABCI-USA, Flexmls, Fordham University Real Estate Institute, Freedom Mortgage, GeoDataPlus, Houlihan Lawrence Real Estate, HSBC Bank USA, N.A., Merlino & Gonzalez, National Association of Realtors, National Tenant Network (NTN), New York State Association of Realtors, NYU Schack Real Estate Institute, Patron Real Estate Brokerages, Popular Community Bank, RE/MAX, RISMedia, Inc., Schneps Communications, ShowingTime, The Nicotra Group, The Real Deal, VirtualAPT, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.
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Editor, Real Estate In-Depth