What I'm Reading Help Wanted: Labor shortages are helping to keep more homes from being built, making housing even less affordable. The problem does not appear to be going away anytime soon. The Economist Surprising Result: About half of US states ended enhanced federal unemployment benefits early. So far, they...
September 1st – Spread Out
What I'm Reading Spread Out: In a substantial shift from the past decade, more Americans now say that they prefer a community with big houses even if local amenities are farther away. Part of this is due to Millennial household formation and part is due to the pandemic. However, the...
August 31st – Double Edged Sword
What I'm Reading Double Edged Sword: Almost everyone claims to want more affordable housing but there is little will to actually achieve it. In reality there is no widespread affordable housing without a decline in property values and no politician gets elected to statewide office by promising to slash real...
August 30th – Overloaded
One Big Thing Overload: Harvard University's "The State of the Nation's Housing 2021" report found, unsurprisingly that the nation's affordable housing crisis is getting worse. What is perhaps more troubling is that current economic and market conditions indicate that there is no end in sight. Globe Street That brings us...
August 26th – On the Docket
What I'm Reading On the Docket: The Supreme Court could rule on the new CDC eviction ban as early as September. A majority of justices have questioned the constitutionality of the previous extension. However, the current iteration was crafted to address some of these concerns. Globe Street Topping Out? New...
August 25th – Back to the Future
What I'm Reading Back to the Future: With investors craving yield, Wall Street firms are once again diving into the private-label mortgage market, originating and packaging loans outside of the GSE framework. Despite the recent surge in volume, private level securitizations still make up a mere 4% of the market. ...
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...
August 13th – Beach Reads Week in Review
What I'm Reading Feeding Frenzy: Bidding wars are typical in for-sale housing during a tight market. Now we are seeing them for apartment rentals. CNBC A Tale of Two Markets: Big apartment landlords are thriving during the eviction moratorium while mom and pop owners of buildings with five or less...
August 6th – No End in Sight
Quick programming note: I'm going to be on a family vacation for the next couple of weeks so I won't be posting every day. I hope that all of you can find some time to get outside and enjoy the month of August! What I'm Reading No End in Sight:...
August 5th – Overreach
What I'm Reading Overreach: The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a new, targeted federal eviction ban to replace the one that expired over the weekend despite recently admitting that it had no legal standing to do so thanks to an earlier Supreme Court decision. Politico What strikes me as particularly...