Quotes from the Reuters Real Estate Summit

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The following are notable quotes about the U.S. commercial and residential real estate markets from executives attending the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in New York on Wednesday:

JOHN DUGAN, U.S. COMPTROLLER, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY

"Anybody who looks at our system of four banking regulators, when they come on it anew, wonders whether this is the best way to approach things. I think it is perfectly appropriate and healthy to look at that," he said of a U.S. Treasury Department study on whether to fuse the OCC with sister banking agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision.

"From my vantage point, we believe that as cumbersome as it appears on paper, we work hard to make the system work and we do think it works in practice."

ROBERT TOLL, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TOLL BROTHERS INC. (TOL.N: Quote, Profile, Research)

"I see no reason to expect a change in confidence until probably April '08, when the candidates will fairly well be settled for the presidential election, and we'll start to listen to speeches about how we'll get better," he said of when the sagging U.S. housing market may rebound.

"(My) personal view is that it will be a very quick and strong rebound. We're not into this recession in housing for a long period compared to the other downturns."

"I think there ought to be regulation of subprime. I think there ought to be regulation of prime. I don't think that the economy is best left to its own devices almost ever."

"The excesses that are permitted in the mortgage industry can and perhaps have led us into a dark hole."

"We've discovered that we are known in China without ever having been there, which came as a complete surprise, but it's there. I can envision Toll suburbia, I can envision golf course communities, I can envision high-rise," he said of the company's plans in China.
JOHN ROBBINS, CHAIRMAN, MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION

"Will subprime bring more consolidation to our industry? Well, our industry has been consolidating over time."

"There is always a natural cleansing of the hive coming off record years."

DOTTIE HERMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PRUDENTIAL DOUGLAS ELLIMAN REAL ESTATE

"New York City is a combination of a lot of different things, and you put them all together and all the stars are aligned," she said of the strong New York City real estate market.

JORDAN ASH, DIRECTOR, CONSUMER-RIGHTS ADVOCACY GROUP ACORN FINANCIAL JUSTICE CENTER "If people are lied to or aren't told what's in the loan, we think that that's a predatory practice. In a number of subprime loans, people are not aware of the adjustable rates, the fees that are in them."