Building Engines sponsored the Bisnow Boston State of the Market event on Thursday, September 30 at the Marriott Copley Hotel. The outstanding event,  put on by Bisnow Media, attracted over 1000 of the region’s real estate professionals and included two panels of the most successful and accomplished leaders of the local market.

The experts were fairly optimistic about the pending recovery and the Boston market in particular, driven by the knowledge-based economy and the continuing need for entrepreneurial space.  The CBD is in better shape than the suburbs for the most part and they liked multifamily and retail as investment opportunities. While leasing activity is up from last year, they remained cautious that the key to any real return to growth is job recovery.  Additionally, there is the looming (2012) maturing debt crisis to deal with. Most, however, seemed to feel that the Boston market is at or near the bottom.

One comment reiterated and confirmed by several of the panelists is that those who operate well will be best positioned to both ride out the storm and attract buyers for their properties.  This is clearly the era of the property manager.