What I’m Reading
800 LB Gorilla: Amazon is on pace to absorb nearly 120 million square feet of commercial space this year and accounts for eight of the ten largest industrial projects underway in the United States. The ecommerce giant is having a massive impact on everything from pricing and availability of land and buildings to competitors’ real estate strategies. Globe Street
Bottleneck: Pandemic-related supply chain issues were supposed to be largely resolved by now. Instead, things have gotten worse as shipping container imbalances and COVID-related port shutdowns continue to pressure the system with no end in sight. New York Times
On Watch: Office tower vacancies are once again on the rise. Some prominent class A buildings on the west coast are becoming potential headaches for CMBS lenders, especially as large leases roll. Bloomberg
Understated: The employment situation is worse than the 5.2% unemployment rate indicates thanks to the massive number of people who left the labor force since early 2020. Calculated Risk
Too Much of a Good Thing: Wall Street lenders are pouring billions into house flipper loans as investors continue to aggressively seek yield. The challenge is finding enough inventory that can be renovated and resold at a profit to satisfy that demand. Wall Street Journal
Chart of the Day
This chart has been making the rounds and purportedly shows that the Boomers have a massively disproportionate share of generational wealth since it was featured in a Washington Post story a few weeks back.
However, when looked at in per Capita terms, the story is very different.
Source: Economist Writing Every Day
WTF
Connoisseur: A man was busted for stealing 730 pieces of women’s underwear from laundromats because Japan. Fun fact of the Day: there are vending machines that sell used women’s underwear in Japan. This is one case where I knew which country the story took place in just by reading the headline. NY Post
Free as the Wind: Charges have been dropped against a woman who threatened a man with a knife after he accused her of “farting loudly” in a convivence store checkout line because Florida. The Smoking Gun
Basis Points – A candid look at the economy, real estate, and other things sometimes related.
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