What I'm Reading Invasion of the Nerds: Residents of Silicon Valley set their sights on Austin, Texas during the pandemic, making the city even more tech centric. The migration is also exporting Bay Area problems to Austin, resulting in a housing shortage that is threatening to price locals out, soaring...
April 9th – Gravedancer
What I'm Reading Gravedancer: Amazon is buying up distressed shopping malls and turning them into fulfillment centers, often ruffling the feathers of neighbors - who would prefer to see mixed use redevelopment - in the process. NBC News Culling the Herd: Mall vacancies are increasing at their fastest pace on...
April 6th – Take My Money
What I'm Reading Bidding War: Yield-chasing investors are snapping up single family homes, competing with homebuyers and driving up prices. The wave of institutional capital hitting this space is massive and has created an environment where prices are rising much quicker than incomes, prompting JBREC to issue a report concluding...
April 1st – Rebound
What I'm Reading Rebound: Apartment List's rent index posted its largest monthly increase since 2017 in March. The markets that saw the fastest declines in 2020 led the way. Globe Street Wiped Out: More than 10% of restaurants in the United States have closed permanently since the coronavirus pandemic began...
March 16th – My Way or the Highway
What I'm Reading My Way or the Highway: The Kushner Companies declined to oppose its lenders’ bid to appoint a receiver to take control of a deeply distressed Times Square entertainment retail property that it purchased for $295.3MM back in 2015. The decline in value here is eye popping to...
March 8th – Gorging
What I'm Reading Gorging: Homebuilders are buying up undeveloped lots at a frantic pace in an effort to meet today's incredibly strong demand. However, that demand isn't permanent and the land grab could lead to pain for those participating. Ivy Zelman sums it up perfectly: “The biggest concern I have...
February 4th – Signs of Life
One Big Thing Today I'm going to focus a major investment sale broker pet peeve: yield fluffing (and yes, I made up that term). For the uninitiated, a fluffer is someone who gets a male porn actor ready to "perform" before the cameras start rolling. I'm not going to explain...
January 25th – Rocket Fuel
What I'm Reading Rocket Fuel: Morgan Housel's latest piece about how COVID has substantially accelerated wealth and income inequality is an outstanding read and makes a strong case for an economic boom in the coming years - at least for some. This section on mortgage refinancings and the accompanying chart...
January 21st – Misplaced Priorities
One Big Thing President Joe Biden comes into office with a housing plan that includes a $15,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. IMO, encouraging first time homebuying is a worthy goal but doesn't really solve our current problem - not enough houses are getting built to satisfy existing demand, which would...