Andrew Nelson, CRE

Chief U.S. Economist


As Chief U.S. Economist, Andrew develops the firm’s economic and market perspectives and provides strategic advice to the firm’s clients. In collaboration with the U.S. leadership team, he is responsible for driving Colliers’s research agenda and leading the U.S. research team in providing insight, thought leadership and guidance about commercial real estate, capital markets and financial investment and related sectors. Prior to Colliers, Andrew spent eight years at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, most recently as Director, Research & Strategy in the Americas, where he managed the U.S. Research team and was the retail sector and sustainability specialist. Previously he held a variety of leadership positions in both the public and private sectors including Vice President of HOK Advance Strategies, where he served as national practice leader of the Portfolio Services service line. He also managed a construction-lending program for the World Bank in Russia, held a two-year “Community Builder” fellowship with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and managed the regional real estate consulting practice at Deloitte & Touche in San Francisco.

Andrew holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from Harvard University and is the author of numerous articles on real estate sustainability, macroeconomics, retail sector dynamics and other topics in property economics, market research and demographics.

Among other industry involvement, Andrew was Chair of the North American Research Task Force for the International Council of Shopping Centers. He also holds a Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) designation and is a certified general real estate appraiser in California and a member of the Urban Land Institute. He was a 2015 Gold Medallion Award for research from ICSC and was inducted into the Lambda Alpha International land economics honor society in 2014.

Andrew has been the invited speaker at numerous professional conferences including for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF), and the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA).