All week, we have been meeting real estate executives at Reuters Global Real Estate Summit who have discussed the many different areas of concern that have spread throughout the sector.

Some have spoken about deleveraging. Some have told us about the shrinking of values. Others have said it’s a confidence game — as in, there isn’t any.

But J. Allen Smith, chief executive of Prudential Real Estate Investors, brought it all together for us quite nicely.

In Smith’s view, the real estate universe is subject to a confluence of all the above-mentioned problems and a few others as well. He sees it as a unique time and does not see a rebound for some time.

It’s a daunting time to be in the industry, for sure, but at the end of his comments (which you can hear by clicking on the link below) he is starting to see a glimmer of hope here and there. After the past couple years, even a glimmer is a pretty welcome thing.

Smith was one of our featured speakers at this year’s summit, which continues through the end of this week. Reuters has exclusively interviewed guests in our offices including New York, London, Shanghai, Mumbai, Sydney and others this week.

For more on Smith’s comments, please click on the attached link right below:

Allen Smith, CEO, Prudential Real Estate Investors

Alain Dutheil, CEO of  mobile chipmaker  ST-Ericsson,  is not a man easily deterred when he wants to get somewhere.

“My plane was late and when I arrived there was no car there to take me into town as planned.” So what did the 64-year-old do?

“I took a motorcycle, it was the only way I could make it to the Reuters Summit on time.”

Dutheil, who could retire next year, said the ride took him 25 minutes from Orly during morning rush hour in Paris for 55 euros, just around 15 euros more than a regular cab fare.

“Of course, I didn’t ride the bike myself,” he added.