What I'm Reading Stacked Deck: Perhaps the biggest reason for the current truck capacity shortage is the surge of goods moving west to east. Simply put, there is too much freight exiting Southern California and too little coming into the area. The problem will persist until the imbalance eases. Think...
October 20th – Max Capacity
What I'm Reading Max Capacity: Prologis, the world's largest logistics warehouse operator has announced that their facilities are effectively full. Freight Waves This begs the question: even if (HUGE IF) running port operations 24/7 increases capacity, where do all of those goods actually go once they leave the ports complexes...
October 19th – Bluebird
What I'm Reading Bluebird Conditions: With low interest rates, strong capital flows and a favorable market outlook, conditions are more ripe for a lending boom than they have been in years. Question is whether or not the lending discipline that has defined the market since the end of the Great...
October 15th – Leveling Off
What I'm Reading Shrug it Off: Industrial rents are rising at such a rapid clip that developers aren't sweating spiking development costs. Bisnow Easing Up: While demand for apartments will likely remain substantially above its historical norm, it seems likely that absorption volume will ease somewhat in 2022. This is...
October 14th – Long Shot
What I'm Reading Long Shot: Zelman and Associates released a contrarian residential market call, claiming that today's tight housing market is already getting overbuilt thanks to the downward trajectory of population growth per the 2020 Census. CNBC Other analysts, like Jay Parsons of RealPage were quick to jump on this...
October 13th – We’re Number One
What I'm Reading We're Number 1: Money laundering is a problem across the economy but nowhere is it more prevalent than in the real estate - especially in the US. Miami Herald Less for More: While many companies have responded to supply chain shortages and wage inflation by raising prices,...
October 12th – Held Back
What I'm Reading Trailing Indicator: Soaring home prices mean that more appraisals are coming in below contractual sales prices, causing deals to collapse. The fact that it often takes a couple of months to close these transactions means that comps, which appraisers rely heavily upon, tend to lag. While painful...
October 11th – No Vacancy
What I'm Reading No Vacancy: Apartment vacancies hit another low in September, according to RealPage, declining to 2.7%, with rents hitting all-time highs. Globe Street A point of interest here is lender underwriting. One thing that has kept the market (sort of) in check is that multifamily properties are typically...
October 8th – Substitution Effect
What I'm Reading Substitution Effect: Construction material shortages are forcing homebuilders and contractors to turn to substitutes and hunt for alternative suppliers as they rush to meet high demand for new housing. However, its a double-edged sword and swapping out materials to minimize delays can add to costs. Wall Street...
October 7th – Shop Shop
What I'm Reading Chop Shop: The latest investment trend is buying tiny pieces of everything from real estate and cars, to art, fine wine and memorabilia. Vox Looking Inward: Foreign investors are following in the footsteps of their domestic counterparts, focusing on secondary markets with strong fundamentals over their traditional...