When planning for the future, it pays to know what lies around the corner.

While no one can predict the future, given unknowns in our world today like terrorism, war and a shaky world economy, emerging market trends and patterns can help companies prepare to face the next 12 months with boldness.

The Alabama Center for Real Estate hosts the conference in Birmingham each year. To learn more about the conference, click here.

For a full list of ACREcon speakers, click here. 

To register for ACREcon 2016, click here. 

Christopher Lee – CEL & Associates

Christopher Lee, president and CEO of CEL & Associates, will kick off the morning session of the 16th annual Alabama Commercial Real Estate Conference & Expo in Birmingham on Jan. 29 by discussing his predictions for both the U.S and the Alabama CRE industry for 2016. ACREcon 2016 will take place at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center.

The “2016 National/Alabama Commercial Real Estate Outlook & CRE Emerging Trends and Predictions” discourse will lead off the daylong event designed to give a glimpse of upcoming market changes so real estate professionals can emerge from 2016 with a higher volume of leads, sales and success.

Lee comes to Alabama with over 30 years of experience in real estate development, land-use economics, strategic planning, investment analysis, workouts, mergers/acquisitions, compensation, finance and performance benchmarking.

This experience has enhanced Lee’s capabilities in analyzing trends within the industry, while helping real estate organizations and project teams reach their maximum potential.

Lee recently discussed ACREcon and what CRE professionals in Alabama can expect to take home from the morning session.

ACRE: I guess something that’s on everybody’s mind in commercial real estate is interest rates. How far do you foresee the Federal Reserve going on raising interest rates over the next 12 months, and what affect could this have on commercial real estate moving forward?

Lee: Interest rates will begin their steady rise in December 2015. This increase will be modest and throughout 2016 the rise in interest rates will become a more psychological indicator that inexpensive debt is going away.  This will result in a significant number of transactions occurring in 2016 and the first half of 2017. This rush to monetize value before the downturn will be very noticeable in all asset classes. I expect interest rates to rise 200 basis points over the next three to five years.

ACRE: More specific to Alabama, there is a lot of redevelopment going on in the urban cores of some of our metros, namely Birmingham. Do expect this trend to continue throughout 2016? How important is urban revitalization moving forward?

Lee: Urban revitalization will continue for several years. Municipalities want more walkable communities and a higher tax basis caused by urban development. Millennials and aging boomers want the proximity and accessibility to retail, entertainment, healthcare and grocery/food services. The key to urban revitalization is a robust mass transit system (e.g. light rail), availability of public/private partnerships and a concentration of “growing” employers.

ACRE: Can you sum up what you believe will be the three hottest topics in the commercial real estate industry during 2016?

Lee: The three hottest topics in 2016 will be technology, talent and industry transition.

ACRE: How can Alabama’s CRE professionals better position themselves to be successful?

Lee:  Over the next 12 months, Alabama’s CRE professionals will need to perfect their overall business acumen, relationship and team-building experiences (as well as) communication and leadership skills and knowledge of the new and emerging transformative trends impacting the real estate industry. Over the next 12 months, Alabama’s real estate companies will need to focus on talent retention and motivation, recurring revenues, succession, cyber security and building brand identity and equity.