What I’m Reading
The Great Migration: A new report from JBREC suggests that An estimated 400,000 households will move specifically due to their work at home challenges. This segment will be dominated by young families, who report frustration with the limitations (noise, space, privacy) of their current setup for remote work and often, virtual schooling. This represents a significant opportunity for builders who can address these very real pain points. Constructutopia
Contrarian: Ever the contrarian, billionaire Sam Zell is bullish on urban office markets and skeptical of the suburbs. While there is probably some element of talking his own book here, Zell’s track record on such contrarian moves is remarkable and his predictions should be followed closely. Seeking Alpha
Other Side of the House: As online shopping thrives during the pandemic, so does the market for mystery boxes filled with our unwanted goods. Wired put together a fascinating look inside of the warehouses where dud Amazon orders go to be reborn. Wired
Tortious and the Hare: Knotel and Industrious took two very different approaches to co-working. Knotel pursued the more lucrative – but also more risky path of leasing space from landlords and capitalizing on rent arbitrage. In contrast, Industrious focused its business plan on a more pedestrian fee management structure, working for landlords. Now Knotel is bankrupt and Industrious is thriving and getting hired by landlords to manage the abandoned spaces of its fallen rivals. The Real Deal
Backed Up: Construction prices are rising so rapidly for new, ground up apartments that contractors have begun placing orders in advance, pushing out delivery times. This will put upward pressure on the rent that developers need to make new projects pencil. It is also bullish for repositioning existing buildings, which has been a hot space for several years since it ultimately limits new competition and pushes replacement costs higher. WMRE
Pump it Up: Elon Musk owns a rocket company and an electric company. He is also the richest man in the world. However, his hobby of late has been to post Dogecoin memes at all hours of the night on Twitter, sending the cryptocurrency that was started as a joke from under a penny to over 8 cents over the past months. The Wall Street Journal
Chart of the Day
This should scare the shit out of anyone with office sector exposure.
Source: Fortune
WTF
Joy Ride: A man knocked down a power line while joyriding an excavator that was parked on his street, causing a power outage right before the Super Bowl because Florida. Local 10 News
Off Easy: A man who threw a large rock through the window of a Wendy’s after discovering that the fast food joint was no longer selling Cinnabon rolls has been convicted of two criminal charges, but has been spared jail because Florida. The Smoking Gun
Basis Points – A candid look at the economy, real estate, and other things sometimes related.
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