Avoiding Risk in Today's Market
In this podcast, RERC CEO Kenneth P. Riggs Jr., who also serves as chief real estate economist for the CCIM Institute, discusses investor confidence, risk aversion strategies, and the outlook for the smaller tertiary markets. Listen to Ken as he notes that investors are doing their homework and due diligence, and are buying right and buying for the long term....
A Bifurcated Market
With more capital available from select sources and increased demand for less volatile investments, institutional-level commercial property prices are on an upward trend, states Ken Riggs, president and CEO of Real Estate Research Corporation and chief real estate economist for the CCIM Institute. However, in this CCIM Institute-sponsored podcast, he further explains that the commercial real estate market is increasingly divided, with some historically high prices being paid for institutional properties in top-tier markets, while other markets are seeing little or no transaction activity other than distressed property sales. Listen to Mr. Riggs discuss the challenges for investors in this bifurcated market...
Continuing on the Path to Recovery
In an abbreviated edition of his semi-annual podcast to members of the CCIM Institute, RERC's Ken Riggs noted that while investors remain nervous about the volatility we are seeing in the stock and bond markets, much equity is still sitting on the sidelines "looking for a home." Commercial real estate—and the reduced amount of risk associated with this investment alternative—is looking decidedly more attractive. Even so, investors are taking the time to “get it right” during this prolonged recovery period…
Tough Times Continue
RERC's Ken Riggs notes that while institutional real estate has been forced to mark to market and prices are close to bottoming out, the broader commercial real estate market still has a ways to go and it will take some time to "come clean." Listen to Riggs' view of what the industry and investors should expect in 2010 and beyond.
Home > About RERC > RERC History
RERC History
Founded in Chicago in 1931 by James. C. Downs, Jr., Real Estate Research Corporation (RERC) was the nation's first real estate firm specialing in both real estate research and analysis. Recognized as a pioneer in the art of real estate management and for monitoring key sections of the economy that influenced the real estate industry, Downs conducted real estate market studies, analyses, valuations, and consulting for some of the nation's most well-known industrialists and government agencies involved with post-Depression and World War II building. Through it all, Downs regarded the integrity and independence of RERC as the company's most valued assets.
Over the years, RERC’s expertise and reputation as a leading real estate research and analysis firm continued to thrive. Dr. Anthony (Tony) Downs, Jim Downs’ son and chairman of RERC during most of the 1960s and much of the 1970s, increased the size of the firm to 14 regional offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, and continued its emphasis on research, valuation, and consulting. A number of still-in-demand critical studies were conducted during this time, including “The Cost of Sprawl,” which was published in 1974 and provided a detailed analysis of the costs associated with alternative land uses and development. Tony Downs, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, created one of his longest-lasting legacies in 1973 when he began publishing the RERC Real Estate Report as an economic and real estate newsletter for business, government, and investors.
RERC continued to display its proficiency in valuation and consulting, as well as real estate market research and analysis, when it began publishing Emerging Trends in Real Estate: 1979, which became the industry’s most widely recognized annual forecast report, as well as such landmark studies as “Urban Infill – Its Potential as a Development Strategy” and “The Economics of Revitalization: A Decision-making Guide for Local Officials” in 1981, and “The Evolution of Regional Shopping Centers” in 1987. Some of RERC’s research on the growth of the suburbs even became part of an exhibit in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2003 (see “America on the Move,” currently on display in the Smithsonian).
During the late 1980s, RERC changed hands and leadership several times due to the profound changes taking place in the real estate industry. In 1991, Kenneth P. Riggs, Jr. became CEO of RERC, and he continues to lead the organization today. We are proud of RERC's traditions, but it is RERC's work today and its role in addressing the research, valuation, consulting, and fiduciary service needs of tomorrow's real estate community that is its most fitting legacy.
