I organize semesterly events bringing together real estate experts from the industry, public, academic, and non-profit sectors as part of the Yale ICF Real Estate Colloquium series.
Spring 2025 ICF Real Estate Colloquium
Beyond Bricks and Bytes: The Data Center Investment Landscape
Presentation slides
Demand for U.S. power consumption from data center servers is expected to reach 35 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, with Blackstone anticipating $1 trillion to be spent on new data centers over the next five years. As data centers emerge as one of real estate's most dynamic asset classes, the intersection of digital infrastructure and property investment presents unprecedented opportunities and challenges. From the surge in artificial intelligence computing demands to the widespread adoption of remote work, data centers have become critical assets that blur the traditional lines between technology and real estate investment. The industry's expansion, accelerated by pandemic-driven digital transformation, has triggered a fundamental recalibration of data center strategies, locations, and specifications. Federal initiatives such as incentives brokered through the Biden Administration’s CHIPS Act, combined with state and local tax exemptions for data center equipment, aim to help meet the rising demand for data centers while promoting U.S. competitiveness in this sector on the international stage.
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Join us for a lunchtime discussion that will decode the complexities of data center investments, from power infrastructure and sustainability considerations to emerging market opportunities and valuation methodologies. This panel brings together expert Yale alumni from asset management and technology market research to explore this rapidly evolving sector. Our panelists will examine the environmental implications of this growing sector, including water usage concerns, renewable energy adoption, and innovative cooling solutions that address climate impact. They will share their perspectives on how technological advances, regulatory changes, and sustainability imperatives are reshaping investment strategies in this novel asset class.
Fall 2024 ICF Real Estate Colloquium
The Crisis We Can't Avoid? Implications of Population Aging for Real Estate Markets
Presentation slides Yale Insights Interview
The United States and many other countries are experiencing a rapid aging of their populations, with those aged 65 and over accounting for 27% of all U.S. households as of 2022. As the baby boomer generation enters retirement, population aging is having profound effects on healthcare, social services, and particularly the real estate market.
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This demographic shift coincides with a crisis in housing affordability, exacerbated by an aging housing stock and a shortage of new residential development. In dense urban areas, lackluster permitting for new construction has failed to keep pace with population growth and changing housing needs. Simultaneously, the rising costs of long-term care and senior living arrangements are prompting many older adults to age in place, remaining in their homes for longer. The cost of care associated with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/RD) is projected to almost triple over the next two decades, reaching $1 trillion per year by 2050. Such trends have significant implications for real estate market dynamics, potentially reducing the inventory of homes available for younger generations, leading to higher prices for prospective first-time homebuyers, and increasing demand for spaces designed for healthcare and life sciences research.
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Our interdisciplinary panel -- featuring perspectives from public health, government, and investment management -- will examine potential solutions to the demographic imbalances the real estate market faces today. We will delve into how population aging is influencing housing demand, affordability, and the need for specialized senior living arrangements, as well as innovative ways to finance the burden of elderly healthcare and housing needs. The discussion will cover the complexities of updating the existing housing stock to meet the needs of an aging population while addressing the broader housing shortage at all stages of the life cycle.
Spring 2024 ICF -- CBEY Real Estate Colloquium
Opportunities for Green Property Retrofitting in a Post-COVID World
Presentation slides Yale Insights Link to YouTube recording
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Real estate generates 40% of global carbon emissions, with 29% arising from the energy usage of existing buildings. The pandemic resulted in a surge in investments in home improvements, including solar panels, energy-efficient technologies, and disaster-proofing measures such as wildfire and seismic strengthening. This trend is likely to continue, as more homeowners are staying in their homes for longer to avoid taking out mortgages at higher rates -- a phenomenon known as the “lock-in” effect. To help ease credit access for retrofitting, new state-level programs such as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) offer loans for environmentally conscious property improvements with fewer restrictions than traditional credit lines.
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At the same time, the work-from-home revolution has lowered commercial office and retail property values by over 40% in some major metro areas, creating a strong set of financial incentives for owners and local governments to redevelop space and reduce building vacancies. In October 2023, the White House unlocked new resources towards a mission to encourage zero emissions conversions and increase the housing supply, hoping to render housing more affordable while tackling the climate crisis.
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Can we escape the real estate lock-in effects resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic by improving the energy efficiency of the building stock? Join us for this lunch panel conversation, where, to answer this question, our panelists will explore the latest financial innovations, sustainable technologies, and policy initiatives shaping the future of eco-conscious property redevelopment.
Fall 2023 ICF Real Estate Colloquium
Challenges & Progress towards Providing Affordable Housing in the U.S.
​ Presentation slides Yale Insights Link to YouTube recording
Despite the longstanding concept of the American Dream of a path to homeownership, the reality for countless individuals and families across the United States is an escalating struggle to find homes that are not only safe but also within their financial reach. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country had a shortage of housing units for sale or rent of 3.8 million, with the unavailability of affordable housing particularly pronounced for low-income and non-white renters. The ultimate consequence of this shortfall is that almost 600,000 Americans were chronically homeless in 2022.
The situation has become so dire that the White House announced its five-year Housing Supply Action Plan in May 2022 to unlock federal financing for affordable multifamily development and preservation, and encourage local governments to reform their zoning and land use policies to promote new residential construction.
In this lunch panel discussion, we will bring together three experts who have spent their careers working on affordable housing provision from the perspectives of housing development, local policy, community advocacy, and real estate finance and loan underwriting. Our goal through this event is to dissect the origins of the current housing affordability crisis and outline a sustainable roadmap for local and national policymakers to tackle its root causes.
Spring 2023 ICF Real Estate Colloquium
Democratizing Commercial Real Estate Investing through PropTech
Link to YouTube recording
