What I'm Reading No Easy Way Out: Builders are slamming on the brakes as home sales slow in light of extremely strained affordability. However, demand turns much quicker than supply and today's stoppage in production will likely sew the seeds of tomorrow's even more pronounced shortage. New York Times Pivot:...
July 13th – Stand Off
What I'm Reading Stand Off: The industrial market remains extremely tight when it comes to occupancy and rent growth. However, transactions are slowing as the bid-ask spread between buyer and seller rise. Globe Street Haves and Have Nots: Remote work may be great for long time employees but it has...
June 27th – Air Bag
What I'm Reading Double Edged Sword: The Fed is raising interest rates aggressively to bring down inflation. However, it will also crush investment, which will likely sew the seeds of future shortages as demand recovers quicker than supply can. This is the double edged sword in the housing market right...
June 24th – Pulling the Ripcord
What I'm Reading Pulling the Ripcord: Looking back, the non-bank mortgage lenders rushing to sell shares to the public last year was probably the peak of the business cycle. Since then, borrowing costs have doubled, the market has slowed to a crawl and the buyers of those IPOs are left holding...
June 10th – Back From the Dead?
What I'm Reading Back from the Dead? Single room occupancy units, once a prominent feature of city life in America that cater to low income residents, have been largely zoned out of existence. Now, cities are taking another look at SROs as a revived source of low income housing. Governing ...
May 23rd – Whack-A-Mole
What I'm Reading Whack a Mole: Americans moved around a lot over the past two years, and those destinations also now happen to have the highest inflation rates in the U.S per new research from Redfin. Conversely, places like San Francisco that people left tend to have lower inflation. Redfin...
April 6th – Here We Go Again
What I'm Reading Here We Go Again: After being thwarted last year, the Biden administration is going after 1031 exchanges again in its proposed fiscal budget for 2023. That said, the proposal will meet strong opposition (again) and I sort of doubt that there is appetite for this in a...
April 5th – Backslide
What I'm Reading Backslide: Troubled real estate loans for the likes of retail and offices that saw payments get back on track after the 2020 crash are re-defaulting -- signaling more pain for commercial mortgage-bond investors. This is occurring as commercial landlords who lost tenants during Covid are still having...
March 31st – Easing Up?
What I'm Reading Slow Motion Crash? Two years after the initial covid outbreak, vacancy rates continue to climb in major office markets around the country, taking a toll on property performance. Barclays analysts noted last week that the share of office mortgages that have been assigned to either "watchlists" of...
March 14th – Back from the Dead
What I'm Reading Back From the Dead: Congress seems poised to revive the EB-5 visa program with higher minimum investments. The reinstated program will also aim to crack down on gerrymandering of high-unemployment areas into shapes that include more prosperous places, which allowed developers a loophole to use the program...