UCLA Real Estate Wire

Los Angeles Business Journal: "Creative Thinkers: Hudson Pacific puts priority on LA’s tech and media companies"

"Hudson Pacific’s properties fall under two categories: office buildings and studio spaces.

"Tim Kawahara, executive director at the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, called the group’s projects 'extraordinarily high profile.' Hudson Pacific Chairman and Chief Executive Victor Coleman was one of the Ziman Center’s founding board members.

" 'With all the streaming services and the need to generate content, you’re seeing lots of that type of space being developed,' Kawahara said. 'Victor and Hudson Pacific have really been out in front of the market.' "

[LABJ: 10/4/2019]

Los Angeles Times: "Not Sold on Cheaper FHA Loans"

Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA, said he expects the administration will have a conservative tilt in housing policy, but he noted that it’s uncertain how the debate over housing policy will play out.

“Ben Carson is a complete unknown in the housing world,” he said.

[LAT: 2/13/17]

Los Angeles Business Journal: "Mansion's $250 Million Listing Priced to Light Fire Under Bids"

Eric Sussman, a real estate professor at UCLA, said it takes “outlandish, unusual, attention-grabbing” tactics to generate buzz these days.

[LABJ 2/13/17]

GlobeSt: "Real Estate Lawyers Call For Uniformity In Finance Law"

Kathleen Smalley, a partner at Locke Lord LLP, wrote a recent UCLA economic letter to investigate the lack of uniformity in real estate finance law following the recent mortgage crisis and how the presidential election has reignited the conversation. While there isn’t currently a strong movement to create uniformity, Smalley opens the floor for discussion. We sat down with Smalley to discuss the letter and her perspective on the need for more uniformity in real estate finance law.

[GS: 2/9/17]

Los Angeles Business Journal: "Realtors Want to Make Homes for Middle Class"

"There are no government programs or market forces working in your favor to assist in the development of (middle-class) housing," said Paul Habibi, a lecturer in real estate and finance at UCLA.

[LABJ: 1/30/17]

California Political Review: "Los Angeles Affordable Housing Incentive Program Isn't Doing Enough"

For many developers, it doesn’t make fiscal sense to include affordable housing, said Eric Sussman, a developer who teaches at UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate. Sussman said affordable housing “caps my rent, and creates a lot more paperwork and management burden.”

“Developers are about as capitalist as you get. Like them or love them, or hate them, it’s just economics,” Sussman said.

[CPR: 1/27/17]

Wall Street Journal: "California Housing Crunch Prompts Push to Allow Building"

Paul Habibi, an apartment developer who is also a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, said he understands the concerns about favoritism for luxury developers seeking one-off approvals to Los Angeles’ outdated zoning code. But he said the shortage of housing is so severe that “you just can’t build enough units at any price point.”

“The reality is that growth needs to come from all directions, whether it’s high-end housing, midtier or the subsidized affordable units,” he said.

[WSJ: 1/25/17]

KPCC: "Los Angeles Affordable Housing Incentive Program isn't Doing Enough Audit Says"

For many developers, it doesn't make fiscal sense to include affordable housing, said Eric Sussman, a developer who teaches at UCLA's Ziman Center for Real Estate. Sussman said affordable housing "caps my rent, and creates a lot more paperwork and management burden."

"Developers are about as capitalist as you get. Like them or love them, or hate them, it’s just economics," Sussman said.

[KPCC: 1/24/17]

The Real Deal: "A Multifamily Boom is Born"

The 10 largest multifamily projects that are either proposed or in construction would add 5,410 residences to the Hollywood market. “There is a need for more density and to bring the cost of housing down,” said Eric Sussman, a managing partner at Sequoia Real Estate Partners, a Westwood real estate investment company.

[TRD: 1/23/17]

Los Angeles Times: "The U.S.' Priciest House For Sale is a Bel-Air Mansion that Includes 7 Staffers an a Helicopter"

“The air is very thin at this segment of the market,” said Paul Habibi, a professor of real estate at UCLA. But this is L.A. Fortune and wealth often can materialize overnight, whether from someone overseas looking for a place to park his money or a tech titan riding the wave of a newly minted IPO.

Habibi doesn’t expect the buyer to come from the old-money crowd. “Anybody who has had money for a long time knows better than to spend it on a $250-million house,” he said.

[LAT: 1/18/17]