Chart of the Day A bit of a narrative violation from RealPage's Jay Parsons challenging the assumption that supply constrained markets tend to outperform when it comes to rental growth. Supply, in and of itself isn't a bad thing. In fact it adds to economic growth creating jobs for new...
December 15th – Delay Tactics
What I'm Reading Delay Tactics: Planning departments in California cities are going to great effort to try to comply with California's new housing mandates. Unions and environmental groups are using CEQA to stifle those efforts. Two stalled projects in my hometown of Newport Beach illustrate the problem. OC Register Latest...
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...
September 23rd – Teeing Off
What I'm Reading Teeing Off: After years of languishing, demand for private golf club community amenities is at an all time high. The sport - and real estate developments centered around it - had been experiencing declines as younger generations tended to show less interest than their parents. Then the...
August 23rd – Parched
What I'm Reading Parched: The federal government has declared a first-ever shortage on the Colorado River, announcing mandatory water cutbacks next year for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico. The river provides water to 40 million people and California could be impacted by 2024. This is going to have massive ramifications on...
July 28th – Sitting it Out
What I'm Reading Sitting it Out: Foreign purchases of U.S. residential real estate were down 27% in the year ended in March, a new low since the end of the Great Recession. As insane as the housing market has been, the boom has taken place with little foreign interest compared...
July 21st – Legal Remedy
What I'm Reading Roll the Dice: Escalating material prices have made it challenging for contractors and manufacturers to bid on jobs, with owners sometime finding themselves paying out of pocket to cover overruns. Wall Street Journal Opt Out: Some workers are beginning to look for legal remedies that allow them...
May 21st – Clogged
What I'm Reading Clogged: This week's housing starts number was a big disappointment, especially given the lack of supply that has helped lead to rising prices. It has a lot to do with a lack of finished lot inventory that has caused a major bottleneck, forcing builders to slow down. ...
April 16th – Backlog
What I'm Reading Backlog: During COVID, many US courts stopped functioning for months before adopting new technologies to move cases through, albeit more slowly than before. At the same time, cases including landlord-tenant disputes, foreclosures, contract disputes, tax appeals, partnership settlements have been piling up. Experts fear that once courts...
April 15th – Out of Balance
What I'm Reading Out of Balance: Garden style apartments make up 49% of existing inventory in the US and typically consist of more affordable B and C properties that appeal to working class tenants. However, thanks to the high cost of materials and land, only 3.6% of all apartments in...