Yesterday, the stars of CRE turned out for gigantic Bisnowevents in DC and Austin. DC hosted our fourth annual State of the Market at the downtown Ritz-Carlton, where nearly 800 got the lowdown on market conditions. Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker says the market has recovered from the Great Recession "because it was a financial crisis, not a real estate crisis," like the one seen in the early 1990s, but warns that the next market downturn may not just be financial. (Robot apocalypse?) Willy says two financing trends to watch are the resurgence of CMBS debt and longer bank loans, as financial institutions become "yield starved" and enter into loan products they haven't previously offered.

We also held our third annual State of the Market in Austin where 350 heard stats about how Austin market absorbed 10% of the nations net absorption (80k SF of the cumulative 800k SF) in Q4 '12, and things are still growing, with several projects downtown under construction.