What I’m Reading
Locked Down: With Covid-19 flaring up across China, major manufacturers are shutting factories, ports are clogging up and workers are in short supply as officials impose city lockdowns and mass testing on a scale unseen in nearly two years. There have even been rumors of a potential nationwide lockdown if things get worse. A Chinese shutdown would add even more inflationary pressure to the world economy, possibly forcing the hands of central banks to take a more hawkish stand. Wall Street Journal
Adaptive Reuse: In past cycles, industrial buildings have been redeveloped as office buildings, retail centers and housing in Southern California. Now, industrial developers are buying underutilized suburban office parks and redeveloping them as industrial. The Real Deal
Fear Factor: Spiking mortgage rates may be spooking potential buyers off the sidelines and sparking a winter buying boom. CNBC
Stressed: Omicron is causing a massive number of people across the US to call out sick, limiting the workforce and wreaking havoc on the economy. The Guardian
Pressure Valve: Soaring housing costs continue to put upward pressure on rents as marginal buyers become renters. NY Times
Charts of the Day
The housing market looks like its about to go HAM once the 2022 selling season really gets in gear.
Source: Altos Research
WTF
Sympathy for the Devil: An Illinois school district is in hot water after parents found out that they are hosting after-school program being offered by The Satanic Temple aimed at elementary students. Belleville News Democrat
Glitter Bomb: Two women were arrested for breaking into a man’s apartment and attacking him with glitter because Florida. Tampa Free Press
Basis Points – A candid look at the economy, real estate, and other things sometimes related.
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