Walker & Dunlop's Aaron Appel was subjected to some good-natured ribbing from his boss after Appel shared an anecdote from a Long Island, New York, homebuilder who told him it's hard to find subcontractors in his tony neighborhood.
Appel is building a house in Southampton, a luxury home market in Suffolk County, New York. During a recent Walker Webcast he read from a text sent by a builder who explained the challenges associated with sourcing workers.
That point came after Ivy Zelman, CEO of Walker & Dunlop-owned data analytics firm Zelman Associates, said the U.S. building industry is starting to have lower prices as residential construction slows. “The trades right now are seeing less work in many” of the metropolitan areas the firm tracks that were once hot, Zelman said.
That's when Appel's boss, Walker & Dunlop Chairman and CEO Willy Walker, stepped in, adding some levity to the otherwise serious discussion. Walker pointed out that workers can be busier in costlier markets like the one where Appel's new house is being constructed.
“Anyone listening to what Appel said, put a big asterisk on what Appel said, because the labor market in Southampton, New York, and Aspen, Colorado, is very different from Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas,” Walker said.