The Wharton Club of Northern California is pleased to present Wharton Real Estate Professor Todd Sinai in an interactive conference call!
Over the last 18 months, the fever pitch of the residential real estate market seems to have abated. No longer are houses snatched up within hours of going on the market, with multiple bidders. Now, houses sit on the market for months; the inventory of houses for sale is high; transactions volumes have fallen, and homebuilders are offering the kinds of incentives to buyers that used to be reserved for auto dealers. But while house price growth has lessened, there hasn't been a significant house price decline in any city.
Join Wharton Real Estate Professor Todd Sinai to discuss:
- Why the "mixed signals" of the residential real estate market are really not ambiguous and the real estate market right now is weaker than you might think
- Why weak real estate markets do not necessarily lead to falling house prices
- Why South Florida's rapid run-up in house prices through mid-2006 was a sign of a bubble, but San Francisco's was not
- How changes in real estate market fundamentals -- not crazy market psychology -- can explain the heating up and cooling down of residential real estate markets in most (but not all!) cities
- How the importance of fundamentals in this real estate boom affects the outlook for real estate markets going forward
- And why none of this should matter if you execute a buy-and-hold strategy.
While Professor Sinai's talk -- and examples -- will apply to housing markets across the U.S., he will emphasize the Bay Area.
Come join us with in a new event format designed to allow Wharton professors to share their thoughts on current topics and keep Wharton alumni up to date on the biggest trends in various industries. Our conference call--modeled after the analyst calls that investment banks do with their investors--will be part lecture (the first 15-20 minutes) followed by a Q&A session and a lively discussion with Prof. Sinai as to what we're likely to see over the next few years. To make this call more beneficial to all, additional materials will be distributed before the call so that the discussion can be at the highest level possible.
When: Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Time: 12:00pm west coast time
Where: Via Conference Call (Dial-in and pass code to be provided closer to event)
Registration: No charge for current WCNC members. WCNC Members only for this event. (Note: although there is no event registration fee for WCNC members, "seating" will be limited at this event--please register only if you are confident you'll be able to attend.)
About Professor Sinai
Professor Sinai is an Associate Professor of Real Estate at Wharton and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Professor Sinai has researched extensively on housing markets, house prices, and housing bubbles, and his findings have been published in some of the top academic economic journals. In addition, his views on housing markets have appeared in the popular media, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Newsweek, Businessweek, Bloomberg TV, and CNBC. Professor Sinai received his B.A. from Yale University and his Ph.D in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
