Dr. Sam Chandan

President and Chief Economist, Chandan Economics

Member of the Real Estate Council

Council Member Biography

Sam Chandan, PhD, is President and Chief Economist of Chandan Economics, and Adjunct Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to starting his own firm, Dr. Chandan served as the Chief Economist at Real Capital Analytics. Amongst the commercial real estate industry's preeminent economists, Dr. Chandan has served as an advisor to a vast array of the nation's banks and non-bank lenders, securitized debt market participants, investors, and policy makers. He has expertise in the analysis of property market trends, capital and credit market performance, and the identification of systemic risk in commercial mortgage portfolios. During his tenure within the industry, Dr. Chandan held the role of Chief Economist at Reis, where he was variously responsible for forecasting, valuation, risk, and capital markets products and research, and CMBS and portfolio analytics services. He earned a PhD from the Wharton School and was a doctoral scholar at Princeton University. He has taught economics at Wharton and Dartmouth College. (This is me - Update Profile)

Employment History

2011 - Unspecified: President and Chief Economist, Chandan Economics
2010 - 2011: Global Chief Economist, Real Capital Analytics
2009 - Unspecified: Adjunct Professor, University of Pennsylvania - CC
2008 - 2010: President and Chief Economist, Real Estate Econometrics
2004 - 2005: Visiting Professor, TRUSTEES OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
2003 - 2008: Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, REIS, INC.
2001 - 2004: Lecturer in Business and Public Policy, TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

GLG News^SM Analyses by Sam Chandan

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The Bankruptcy of GGP and the Prognosis for Retail REIT Debt Management

April 27, 2009

Analysis of:Mall operator General Growth Properties files for bankruptcy protection | www.dallasnews.com

As in the case of GGP’s bankruptcy, debt structure issues will dominate amongst REIT default drivers over the course of the commercial real estate market adjustment. Defaults will exert downward pressure on property prices but will also facilitate an increase in transaction volumes by forcing sellers’ prices to meet buyers’ expectation of adjustments. Weakening fundamentals will coincide with debt-related distress during the process of price adjustment. Occupancy within GGP’s mall portfolio fell by a relatively modest 130 basis points between year-end 2007 and 2008. But a combination of bankruptcies, a drop in renewal rates on expiring leases, and violations of co-tenancy covenants will undercut mall fundamentals to a greater degree in 2009 than was observed in 2008. Going forward, the effective operation and management of space will prove to be of critical importance for REITs with lower leverage.

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