Enough of Fed rate hikes, real estate execs say

By Ben Klayman

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. real estate executives hope the Federal Reserve Bank signals interest rate hikes are complete after the latest expected increase this week.

Inflation and potential Federal Reserve interest rate hikes -- and how many of them -- are the top concerns among the executives, who spoke at the Reuters Real Estate Summit. The Fed's policy-making committee begins a two-day meeting on Wednesday.

The central bank, which has raised rates by a quarter of a percentage point each at 16 consecutive meetings, is widely expected to raise them by at least another quarter point at this meeting.

"As a businessman it makes me nervous how much they're tightening," Michael Pralle, the head of General Electric Co.'s (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) vast real estate operations, said at the summit, held at Reuters headquarters in New York.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Ian McCarthy does not think the Fed has been too aggressive so far, but worries about more increases beyond this week.

"If there's one more increase ... that would probably be good. Do we need any more than that? I'm not sure that we do," he said. "We don't want to tighten the economy down so far that it impacts the markets."

A dramatic decline in the U.S. housing market also could damage the U.S. economy, Pralle said.

"If you have a significant value decline in major markets like New York, Boston and San Francisco, that could significantly impair confidence in the economy," he said, adding he did not think there was a national housing bubble.

However, Robert Toll, CEO of luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said the repeated quarter-point interest rate increases have been somewhat maddening.

"This Chinese water treatment of a quarter of a point (hikes), it hasn't had its desired effect," he said.

"Do I think the Fed has overdone it? No," Toll added. "I think the Fed has underdone it in the past."

The executives want the Fed to maintain a balance between fighting inflation and not stifling the economy with its interest rate policies, as the real estate industry has seen stable or rising prices and rents in the various sectors of the market.

While the second-quarter gross domestic product is expected to slow from the first quarter's blistering 5.3 percent pace, it will remain strong, said Richard Kincaid, CEO of Equity Office Properties Trust EOP.N, the largest publicly traded office building landlord.

"My sense is the economy goes to somewhere around 2.5, 3.5 percent GDP," he said. "It slows, but it's still going at a good pace."

And overconfidence will not be a problem.

"We all have learned the lessons of being too optimistic," said Robert Speyer, senior managing director for U.S. real estate developer and investor Tishman Speyer.