I had the privilege to attend the second annual Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Summit of the Americas held at the Westin Harbour Castle in downtown Toronto on May 4–6, 2014. With workshops in six different tracks and numerous keynote presentations and panel discussions, it was an event chock full of education, networking, and camaraderie.

The first session I attended included a general overview of the Canadian and U.S. national economies. Douglas Porter, chief economist of the BMO Financial Group, spoke about the future of the interest rates in the United States and Canada. He believes the two countries will start raising rates later this year, so investors will have a bit longer to enjoy these historically low interest rates.

Here’s a quick summary of some of the other sessions I attended:

  • What is Taxonomics?

Taxonomics, which is the economics behind property tax assessments, was the topic of another session on Monday. An expert panel discussed the issues and challenges of property assessment and taxation in North America. One issue is that tax assessors are getting more aggressive, the result of which is that fewer tax appeals are being resolved prior to the actual appeal. Part of this is the technological sophistication of tax assessors, which is generally improving with greater prevalence of geographic information system (GIS) software and mapping capabilities within computer assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) software.

Road Construction

Road construction, courtesy of Kim Scarborough, CC BY-SA 2.0.

  • Real Infrastructure

Infrastructure development has been a hot topic over the last few years. The Obama Administration has talked about the need for updating our nation’s infrastructure (e.g., bridges, roads, and highways). But, the way we’re going to finance these infrastructure upgrades is a major concern of policymakers. This session reviewed the use of public-private partnerships (P3) and alternative procurement and financing models to deliver infrastructure across North America.

  • Sports Facilities

We heard from experts on a wide range of sports-related talks. From ESPN surveys to the Daytona International Speedway expansion, we explored the role of economic impact studies and who uses them in the sports world.

Until next time,

Clifford A. Lipscomb, Ph.D., MRICS