What I'm Reading Thin Air: Mortgage payments are getting more unaffordable as record home price growth erases savings delivered by historically low interest rates. Wall Street Journal The affordability problem will continue to get worse if / when interest rates continue to rise. Borrowers have record equity in their homes...
October 1st – Pointing Fingers
What I'm Reading Pointing Fingers: Frustrations are boiling over at the Ports of LA and Long Beach as freight continues to pile up. Truckers are pointing fingers at a lack of dock help to offload ships. Port officials are pointing to a struck driver shortage. The only thing that both...
September 9th – Back to School
What I'm Reading Back to School: COVID caused slowing of new supply in the student housing market, helping to stabilize rents. Now that class is back in session, some of the world's largest property investors are pumping billions of dollars into buying and developing off-campus housing. (h/t Mike Deermount) Wall...
September 8th – 800 LB Gorilla
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...
September 7th – Not So Fast
What I'm Reading Not So Fast: The Biden Administration's $3.5 trillion budget proposal is in limbo after West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin came out strongly against it in a Wall Street Journal OpEd, raising inflationary concerns. Wall Street Journal Speed Bump: The US construction industry's recovery from the lows of...
August 24th – Permanent Decline?
What I'm Reading Shots Fired: Green Street is predicting that office occupancy may never return to pre-pandemic heights and that office NOI will likely not outpace inflation over the next five years. Green Street is predicting a 15% reduction in office space demand in the US, a figure the firm...
July 29th -Open Field
What I'm Reading Open Field: Startups in smaller MSAs are facing competition from large Silicon Valley competitors when it comes to hiring employees: Some of the biggest names in tech aren’t just allowing existing workers to relocate out of the Bay Area, they are also starting to hire in places...
March 17th – Lifeline
What I'm Reading Lifeline: Of the three relief bills passed by Congress over the past year, the latest is probably the most beneficial to the CRE industry. Here's a summary of what the bill contains that will help the industry: $40 billion for rental assistance $25 billion in restaurant industry...
February 25th – Swamped
What I'm Reading Swamped: As the nation begins to climb out of the depths of the COVID-19 crisis, landlords will be forced to fight for office tenants, creating a tenant’s market unlike any other over the past few decades with availability rising 15-20% in some markets. Vestian Hot Spots: Boise,...
