What I'm Reading Material Shortfall: Dealers in John Burns’ building products survey appear to be planning and buying inventory based on an inaccurate expectation of growth in 2022. If the results of the survey turn out to be accurate, materials companies are underestimating demand, which will cause more shortages and...
January 17th – In the Spotlight
What I'm Reading In the Spotlight: Non-traditional property sectors like manufactured homes, gaming, cold storage, healthcare and single-family rentals will likely be the top performing CRE assets in 2022. Globe Street Stretched Thin: Guest demand is back across a substantial portion of the hospitality industry. However, shortages caused by supply...
January 14th – Locked Down
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...
January 12th – Fueling Up
What I'm Reading Fueling Up: The pandemic has reduced interest in international investments for US-based asset owners. At the same time, foreign investors are showing an increased appetite for US, with 75% of respondents to a recent AFIRE survey indicating that they would increase their volume here in the next...
January 10th – Misdirection
One Big Thing The following is not tax advice. There are several things that we can say definitively about disgraced WeWork co-founder Adam Neuman. Here are a few: He is a massive self promoter He is generally full of shit. Like it or not, he is one of the great...
January 7th – Poached
What I'm Reading Poached: Boise, Idaho has an interesting jobs dynamic that I suspect is playing out in other so-called 'Zoom towns' as well. Historically low local wages, coupled with a strong talent pool have made Boise a target-rich environment for coastal companies - especially in tech - looking for...
January 5th – Stuck in Place
What I'm Reading Boxed In: Despite an incredibly tight apartment market, Los Angeles won't allow rent hikes for tenants in rent-stabilized units - which accounts for approximately 75% of inventory - until at least 2023. This despite costs rising sharply, including labor and materials for building repairs as well as...
December 9th – Dwindling Reserves
What I'm Reading Dwindling: American balance sheets have been historically strong during the pandemic era, thanks largely to infusions of government cash. The infusions boosted consumer spending, helped pay off debts and reduced the urgency of employment. According to Moody's Analytics, those excess savings are dwindling among many working and...
December 3rd – Tis the Season
What I'm Reading Tis the Season: Apartment rents fell in more than half of the nation’s major markets this month, suggesting a widespread cooldown in a market that’s been buoyed by pandemic-driven shifts in consumer preferences. Apartment List To put this move in context a bit, rents typically follow a seasonal...
December 1st – Seeds of Growth
What I'm Reading Creative Destruction: With workers quitting their jobs at nearly unprecedented levels, entrepreneurship is on the rise: The number of unincorporated self-employed workers has risen by 500,000 since the start of the pandemic, Labor Department data show, to 9.44 million. That is the highest total since the financial-crisis...