New JLL Research Head: CRE Market Still Holding

Feb 21, 2008
By: Tonie Auer, Southwest Correspondent, Commercial Property News ©

Despite a slowing economy, the new national director of research for Jones Lang LaSalle said he anticipates a cautious “wait and see” attitude in the market, but believes the fundamentals of commercial real estate are still in relatively healthy shape.

Real estate research specialist Ben Breslau (pictured) was selected as director of research for the Americas region for Jones Lang LaSalle. He will lead a team of 40 researchers with both local and national expertise covering markets across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Latin America. Previously, he was director of research with Spaulding & Slye in Boston, now Jones Lang LaSalle. He joined the firm in 1998.

Breslau said while activity in the commercial real estate markets is slowing a bit with the economic downturn, the fundamentals of supply and demand dynamics nationally are pretty strong by historical measures.

“We aren’t seeing or expecting to see an immediate shift in the vast majority of markets in terms of landlord and tenant leverage or a dramatic shift in rental rates,” Breslau said. “We’re in a little bit of a cautious wait and see period and the marketplace is sensing that. The fact that the fundamentals … are in relatively healthy shape going into what looks like an economic slowdown bodes well for the markets. They’re not falling off a cliff as they have in past.”

Breslau holds a degree in economics from Emory University. He has extensive experience producing customized research for investor, corporate occupier, and institutional clients, and has been a panelist and speaker at several industry conferences. He serves on national and local Urban Land Institute committees, is a director of the Boston Principal Research Bureau, and is a member of CoreNet Global.

“I plan to do everything we can to make sure our research is innovative, cutting edge, forward looking and insightful for our clients,” Breslau told CPN. “We are already doing a lot of market-leading research at local and national levels, but my goal is to make sure we elevate our research platform even further and increase the value we can add to our corporate and investor clients.”
 

Jones Lang LaSalle, the only real estate money management and services firm named to Forbes magazine’s “400 Best Big Companies” for three consecutive years, has approximately 170 offices worldwide and operates in more than 700 cities in over 60 countries.