A Yale University team that included four SOM students won this year’s Real Estate Debt Case Competition, held in New York City.
Hosted by the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC), an industry trade association, the competition asks student teams to present an analysis of a commercial real estate lending decision to a panel of senior executives. Yale was one of 11 U.S. universities invited to participate.
Yale College student Bradley Bennett ’26 and MBA students Raymond Chang ’27, Craig Cowell ’26, Mehak Parwani ’27, and Stella Wang ’26 earned first place and a $20,000 prize.
“What made this special was the collaboration,” Chang said. “Our team brought together Yale SOM and Yale undergraduate talent to put together a credit thesis we believed in and could defend.”
“We all came with some real estate background or interest, but from different angles, and when we worked together, we could fill in the gaps in each other’s understanding,” Parwani said. “It was also helpful that most of us were taking or had taken Professor Cameron LaPoint’s Commercial Real Estate Investing class to strengthen our foundation.”
Now in its fifth year, the event aims to connect emerging talent with the commercial real estate finance industry.
“The caliber of teams this year was exceptional,” said Lisa Pendergast, president and CEO of CREFC, in an announcement. “Students brought thoughtful, well-structured analyses and a level of professionalism that mirrors what we see in the industry today.”
