Sam Chandan

President and Chief Economist
Real Estate Economics LLC

Eminent Fellow and Vice Chair of the Economics and Capital Markets Council
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors


President and Chief Economist of Real Estate Economics, Dr. Sam Chandan is
amongst the most prominent researchers in the field of multifamily and commercial real estate finance. In his leadership role at REE, Dr. Chandan is responsible for the firm's economic and risk analysis services, as well as its commercial mortgage performance reporting and forecasting products. With an emphasis on risk management and information-intensive decision-making under conditions of market failure, Dr. Chandan directs REE’s intellectual resources to address the unique challenges and opportunities facing commercial real estate lenders, investors, and policy makers amidst unprecedented disruptions to the normal functioning of credit
markets and the global economy.

Prior to forming REE in December 2008, Dr. Chandan was Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at Reis, Inc. (NASDAQ: REIS), a leading provider of multifamily and commercial real estate data and Internet-based information tools. While at Reis, Dr. Chandan was responsible for the firm's market forecasting; the development of its valuation, risk, and quantitative models; CMBS and securitized debt analysis tools; and, real estate portfolio analytics service. He first raised concerns with regard to asset price and mortgage market trends in 2005, warning of an ultimate decline in mortgage portfolio performance and a potential collapse in capital flows to commercial real estate.

Dr. Chandan’s commentary on commercial and residential markets, the economy, and capital and credit markets has been featured in national and global print publications, on radio, and on television. In addition to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Reuters, his commentary on the market has also appeared in the Financial Times and the New York Times; in BusinessWeek and Forbes; on CNBC, the Fox Business Network, CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg Television, and Nightly Business Report; and on National Public Radio and Public Radio International.

Among his academic affiliations, Dr. Chandan is a member of the Royal Economic Society, the American Economics Association, and the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. He was elected an Eminent Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 2008 and begins a two-year term on the Advisory Board of the Real Estate Research Institute (RERI) in April 2009. Dr. Chandan’s ongoing academic research is focused on the dynamic relationship between asset prices and commercial mortgage market performance, and on housing policy and the capitalization of local public amenities in house prices. Among his other academic commitments, he has served as a peer reviewer for Harvard Business School Press.

Named one of the industry’s most influential people by Multi Housing News
magazine, Dr. Chandan is a regular speaker at industry events and is a contributing author to many of the its preeminent publications. Recent speaking engagements have included keynote addresses, panel participation, and briefings for the Real Estate Roundtable (RER), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA), the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Over the course of 2008 and 2009, he has presented a series of updates on commercial real estate market conditions for staff at the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC)’s member bodies: the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve; the Office of the Controller of the Currency (OCC); the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS); the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA); and, the FDIC.

Dr. Chandan holds the PhD in Applied Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Doctoral Scholar in the Economics Department at Princeton University. In addition to the PhD, Dr. Chandan holds a MA in Economics, a MSc in Engineering, and a BSc in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Public Policy. Dr. Chandan has taught microeconomic theory at the Wharton School and was a visiting professor on the faculty of the Economics Department at Dartmouth College.