Sam Zell and Wilbur Ross apparently continue to disagree about the future of the commercial real estate market. Wilbur Ross has predicted that commercial real estate is in for a “huge crash”. Ross first voiced this opinion during an interview on Bloomberg Radio on October 30th; then yet again on November 3rd during an appearance on CNBC. His gloomy prediction begins about 4:25 into the clip.
ROUND 1: November 10 – Sam Zell, during a charity event in Chicago, commented that “everyone is waiting for the grave dancer to come and exercise his magic potion. But you need two to tango.” Meaning, in order for depressed sales to occur, you must have both a willing buyer and a willing seller. And right now, owners have no incentive to sell with prices down 40%. Zell expects these owners, if they can get to 2011 or 2012, will be able to start filling their vacancies.
ROUND 2: November 18 – Zell again voiced this same opinion during the Capital Markets Conference in Real Estate sponsored by NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. For “all the new savants on commercial real estate (like) Wilbur Ross…I find their comments..are inversely related to our knowledge of the industry.”
Stay tuned….
[...] types will rebound first. And also, some good humor regarding Zell’s and Ross’ recent conflicting views about where commercial real estate is [...]