What I'm Reading Exodus: Companies continue to abandon millions of square feet of office space. Things appear poised to get worse with a record number of leases expiring in the second half of 2022. Business Insider Doubling Down: Santa Monica is moving to tighten its notoriously tight rent controls even...
July 28th – Doubling Up
What I'm Reading Doubling Up: Demand for flexible warehouse space continues to increase and some property owners are taking advantage with co-warehousing options. Think WeWork, but for warehouses. Wealth Management Over the Falls: New home sales continue to fall sharply while prices for new and existing homes continue to increase...
July 27th – Close to the Nest
What I'm Reading Close to the Nest: In the latest illustration of general mobility decline, a new US Census study found that by age 26 more than two-thirds of young adults in the U.S. lived in the same area where they grew up. 80% had moved less than 100 miles away...
July 25th – Levelling Off?
What I'm Reading Topping Out: Active housing inventory for sale is up 29% year over year. However, it has been sitting at this level for three weeks now after soaring earlier in the year. Per Bill McBride: "This might be noise, or it might suggest a slowdown in inventory increases."...
July 22nd – Scaling Back
What I'm Reading Scaling Back: Higher prices for personal- and home-care items are driving Americans to purchase fewer consumer staples as inflation crimps budgets. Bloomberg Hitting the Brakes: Multifamily lending is expected to slow down for the remainder of 2022 as higher rates take a toll. However, the MBA is...
July 20th – Bad Vibes
What I'm Reading Bad Vibes: Homebuilder sentiment dropped 12 points to 55, according to a monthly survey from the National Association of Home Builders, the largest drop in the survey's 37-year history with the exception of April 2020. Sentiment is also declining at a far faster rate than it did...
July 19th – Head for the Border
What I'm Reading Head for the Border: Onshoring and nearshoring production trends will increase emphasis on logistics facilities near border locations and intermodal hubs with sizable rail and road infrastructures. San Diego, Detroit and San Antonio could emerge as winners as well as several Atlantic coast port cities. Globe Street...
July 18th – Contagion
What I'm Reading Contagion: The housing affordability crisis used to be a coastal, blue state issue. It has now gone nationwide. New York Times When it Rains, It Pours: America is facing the twin threats of rail and trucker strikes just as signs emerge that its ports on both coasts...
July 15th – Looking Ahead
What I'm Reading Looking Forward: CPI hit a 40-year high but its a backward-looking number. Many forward looking indicators are starting to tell a very different story – a story of falling demand and falling prices, and the risk of falling into deflation. Pragmatic Capitalism Beat the Heat: Some employees...
July 14th – No Shelter
What I'm Reading Walk Out: Some California truckers who move containers in and out of the marine terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach say they plan to participate in a work stoppage Wednesday to protest a controversial state law, AB5, that seeks to limit the use...