Our Services
Real Estate Consulting
Veritas Urbis - which translates into "Truth of the City" - offers real estate and urban economic consulting services for developers, homebuilders, local government, and more. Combining reliable data sources with rigorous analytical techniques, Veritas Urbis provides comprehensive yet digestible analysis of real estate markets across the United States and abroad.
Data PR Consulting
Veritas Urbis Economics also provides advising and freelance services to firms seeking to grow their public engagement efforts. We can help identify target audiences, and develop an effective media strategy using authoritative and credible analysis of both internal and external data.
Media and Public Speaking
Veritas Urbis's Founder, Dr. Ralph McLaughlin, has extensive television and radio experience providing commentary on the U.S. housing market. He was interviewed by Diane Sawyer for a special edition of 20/20, and has had numerous appearances on CNBC's Squawk Box, Nightly Business Report, Yahoo Finance, and Bloomberg Markets. Ralph is available for advising on media commentary, keynotes and other public or private speaking engagements.
Previous Work
Los Gatos Retail Analysis
Comparative analysis of alternative development scenarios between Downtown Los Gatos, California and a proposed retail corridor known as the "Los Gatos North 40." Produced for the Town of Los Gatos.
Thought Leadership
Op-ed piece for Fast Company, which examines the potential impacts of automated vehicle adoption on inequality in the United States.
Academic Work
Invited piece written (with Cheryl Young) for Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies that examines the role of online real estate data on spatial patterns of inequality in the U.S.
Our Team
Suzanne J. Smith, Chief Operating Officer
Suzanne Smith is COO of Veritas Urbis Economics, having served in that role since VUE's founding in 2018. She is currently a Senior Urban Planner at Urban Arena, a Southern California-based architectural and design firm. Born and raised in the UK, she left her homeland in 2001 with a Master’s and Bachelor's Degree in Landscape Architecture from Leeds Metropolitan University to fulfill her lifelong dream of living in California.
Prior to joining Urban Arena, Suzanne served as a Senior Urban Planner with global architectural giants GHD and HOK, based out of their Adelaide, Australia and San Francisco offices, respectively.
Ralph B. McLaughlin, Advisor and Founder
Ralph is Founder of Veritas Urbis Economics (VUE) and currently serves as Deputy Chief Economist and Executive of Research and Insights at CoreLogic. Prior to starting VUE, Ralph served as Trulia's Chief Economist and led their housing economics research team and provided house hunters with key insights about the economy, housing trends, and public policy. His educational background includes a PhD in Planning, Policy, and Design from the University of California at Irvine (with a specialization in Urban Economics) and a BS in Geography and Regional Development from the University of Arizona. He has authored more than 200 pieces of content (blog posts, op-eds, and peer-reviewed academic studies) in the fields of housing economics, land use and housing policy, and industrial geography, and was previously director of the Certificate in Real Estate Development at San Jose State University. Ralph can be contacted at ralph@veritasurbis.com
Issi Romem, Advisor
Issi Romem is Chief Economist at BuildZoom and a fellow at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley. He researches and writes about cities, metropolitan growth patterns, housing, real estate and construction for a lay audience. His work has been featured in publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and many more. In his role at BuildZoom, Issi has overseen data aggregation and data science work. He co-chairs the National Association for Business Economics’ Data and Analytics Roundtable.
Previously, Issi has worked in economic consulting for clients involved in complex commercial litigation, and has consulted for the Bay Area Council Economic Institute on matters involving housing, transportation and the regional economy. He has also served as an officer in the Israeli Air Force.
Issi holds a PhD in economics from UC Berkeley, where he has taught econometrics as adjunct faculty. He earned Master's and Bachelor's degrees in economics from The Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University.