TIE-Boston presents, Boston Real Estate Market: Present and Future Outlook Through 2016 . This event has been organized by the Real Estate SIG of TIE and will be held on April 8th at the offices of Battery Ventures in Waltham. To register, go to www.tie-boston.org and click on "Real Estate" under UPCOMING EVENTS.
 
John Avault, Chief Economist at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, will be the keynote speaker. John is regarded as an expert on the city and the regional macro-economy. As the Chief Economist, he works with transportation, development, housing, budget, and land use planners throughout the city as well as with the state government and private sector. John studied economics at the Georg-August University in Gottingen, Germany and at the University of California, Berkeley after receiving his undergraduate degree from Harvard College. Prior to joining the Boston Redevelopment Authority, he worked at M.I.T., the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and Harbridge House, among others. He has also conducted seminars on "Local Government in a Market Economy" in Russia and Uzbekistan. At the Boston Redevelopment Authority, John has written or co-authored more than 100 technical and popular reports on subjects ranging from residential and commercial property markets, fiscal policy, employment projections, urban economic history to demographics and land use patterns.
 
Topic Summary:
 
While there are many models that are used to predict real estate prices, the two factors that directy and consistently impact real estate prices are: employment growth and overbuilding. In evaluating the fundamentals of any location, it is important, therefore, to understand a region's economic base, its potential for income & population growth and the availability of housing supply and office space.
 
The outlook for Boston’s economy is shaped by its centrality and structure, with national (US Bureau of Labor Statistics) projections indicating that the city has the potential to grow jobs 66% faster than the US economy overall through the year 2016.  This growth would be concentrated in knowledge sectors such as Finance; Professional, Technical and Scientific Services; Health Care and Education.  Even when these projections are adjusted downward to account for slow population and labor force growth, the implications for growth and development are exceptional.
 
 To highlight the vibrancy of Boston's real estate, John will:
- provide a brief overview of how Boston’s economy has evolved to its present structure
- review Boston's potential  for economic growth over the next 8 years  
- assess the implications of such growth on earnings and income as well as real estate development and
- use growth projections to provide a context for Boston's pipeline of residential and commercial projects, either proposed or presently underway, valued at over 9 billion dollars.   
 
If you are interested in understanding the medium to long term prospects for the Boston real estate market then you might not want to miss this event.

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