Past Issues

• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001
• 2000
July 2007

Wharton News

Zell/Lurie Research Sponsors Dine at Le Cirque

Forty Research Sponsors met for dinner in New York at Le Cirque on Wednesday, June 13, with guest speaker Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. This was another in our series of special events that enable our Research Sponsors to meet with some of the most distinguished thinkers in the nation. Dimon proved a dynamic and genial speaker, discussing his success with JPMorgan Chase in terms of global competition and the need to be at the cutting edge of customer service.
Joe Gyourko and Jamie Dimon /
Joe Gyourko and Jamie Dimon
Joe Gyourko and Jamie Dimon /
Dinner at Le Cirque



Gyourko Profiles Center in PREA Quarterly

The Spring 2007 edition of the PREA Quarterly, published by the Pension Real Estate Association, focused on human capital trends and featured Professor Joseph Gyourko's profile of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center. In "Raising Human Capital: Real Estate Education Programs," Gyourko described the many initiatives the Zell/Lurie Center pursues to develop the next generation of real estate leaders.

On the International Front

Xing Zong of china.com interviewed Joe Gyourko (July 18) on the topic of "Is there a bubble in China's real estate sector?" Gyourko observed, "If there is little or no existing cash flow, but very high rates of appreciation," as there was during the tech bubble, "you should be suspicious. At the end of the day, investors need cash flow, not just capital gains."

Cities' Success Turns on Good Management, Not Political Parties

The research of Professors Joseph Gyourko and Fernando Ferreira was cited in the New York Sun (6/12/07) in "Upward Trajectory" by Edward Glaeser, who noted that "The evolution of New York's mayors from Walker to Lindsay to Bloomberg represents an upward trajectory," with honesty and competence replacing ideology in value. Good city management, not the political party in power, kept business in New York (and Chicago and Washington, D.C.). Glaser cited Gyourko and Ferreira's study on urban non-partisanship, which concludes that city spending doesn't change when a Republican or Democrat mayor is elected; nationally, though, ideology remains paramount.

International Housing Finance Program Record Enrollment

The annual two-week Executive Education program "Improving Housing Finance Systems" and the workshop on "Securitization" saw record enrollment this year, with 75 participants from more than 20 countries-Nigeria, Egypt, Brazil, India, South Africa, the USA, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania, Honduras, Trinidad & Tobago, Pakistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Denmark, Finland, and Canada, plus the World Bank and IFC. Core faculty Jack Guttentag, Marja Hoek-Smit, Dick Herring, Antony Santomero and Michael Lea were joined by national and international practitioners and participants to provide a rich menu of housing finance theory and case studies that allowed for maximum information sharing and learning. The course was, as always, very highly rated. For more information, go to the IHFP website at IHFP website.
Improving Housing Finance Systems classes
Improving Housing Finance Systems classes

"Last Harvest" Gains Attention for Rybczynski

Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski, Martin & Margy Meyerson Professor of Urbanism, School of Design of the University of Pennsylvania and professor at the Wharton School, has published a new book on real estate development: Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville. The book has been favorably reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and the Washington Post. Rybczynski was interviewed on residential development on CBS's "Sunday Morning," and by the Oregonian and the Denver Post. Business Week called Last Harvest "a rich history of homebuilding." He was also interviewed for NPR's "All Things Considered."

Summers Presents on Land Use Regulations

On June 15, 2007 Anita Summers attended a symposium at the Department of Housing and Urban Development on "National Regulatory Barriers Database Initiative: The Next Steps." Her regulatory survey, and those of others, were discussed as part of a long-term objective of having HUD be a regular collector of regulatory data. On June 25, Dr. Summers addressed the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission in Philadelphia, presenting her findings on "Residential Land Use Regulation in the Philadelphia MSA" to leading planners in the region.

Hoek-Smit Advises Mexican Government

Marja Hoek-Smit continued her advisory work in June with the Calderon government of Mexico, which is fine-tuning its ambitious new housing subsidy package that includes upfront subsidies, the provision of mortgage insurance and incentives for the expansion of micro-finance for housing.

Wachter Presents in Italy, Singapore

Susan Wachter, as co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research, led a summit on "Innovations for an Urban World" in Bellagio, Italy (July 1-5), sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. She presented a paper on "Mortgage Securitization in Asia" at the National Bureau of Economic Research conference in Singapore (June 22-24) and gave a presentation on REITS to the Asian Public Real Estate Association at their annual meeting in Singapore (June 28). She was interviewed on Bloomberg radio and on CN8 Money Matters TV on current housing market and mortgage trends, and by CNBC (June 19) on the May housing starts report. Her Mortgage Index survey for the second quarter 2007 was reported on by The New York Times, AP and more than 100 other newspapers. She presented at the Banc of America's Homebuilder conference on current housing market and mortgage trends (June 1).


Wharton