What I'm Reading Fire Sale: Retail rents are plunging in Manhattan as a lack of office workers makes businesses less viable. On the positive side, falling rates and aggressive concessions have led to falling availability as tenants snap up prime locations at a discount. Bloomberg Decelerating: CoreLogic is projecting that...
February 3rd – Backlog
What I'm Reading Bursting at the Seams: As retailers and logistics companies try to stockpile goods to hedge against supply chain problems, they are facing a new challenge: In many parts of the United States, there is little to no space available to stash the merchandise. Logistics firms are finding...
February 1st – Guessing Game
What I'm Reading Guessing Game: Pandemic uncertainty has made it extremely difficult for appraisers to assign values to office buildings. IMO, this will continue until the dust clears and the impact on demand from work from home can be fully quantified. Globe Street Windfall: Crypto whales are cashing out some...
January 31st – Breaking Point
What I'm Reading Coming Up Short: Two years after Apple, Google, and Meta vowed to spend $4.5 billion to create more than 40,000 new homes in their home state of California, they’ve accomplished a fraction of that goal. The Real Deal Turns out that all the cash in the world...
January 25th – Up and To The Right
What I'm Reading Up And To The Right: Average monthly listed rents in the US increased 14.1% year over year, according to a report issued by real estate brokerage firm Redfin. Meanwhile, the national monthly mortgage payment for homebuyers climbed 21.6% year over year, also the biggest increase in Redfin’s...
January 24th – On the Clock
What I'm Reading On the Clock: The 2017 tax law contains a provision allowing for bonus depreciation on eligible assets, allowing investors who qualify as a real estate professional to shelter income, even in the absence of a 1031 exchange. A sunset provision was built into the law, meaning that...
January 19th – In Limbo
What I'm Reading Not Out of the Woods: Trepp's overall CMBS delinquency rate increased for the first time in 18 months. The move was driven by issues in the office sector which is still facing work from home headwinds. Over the next five years, 42% of the full-term interest-only loans for office...
January 11th – Open House
What I'm Reading Open House: Supply chain issues are making it difficult for home builders to complete new houses, despite increased building activity. As a result, mostly finished units are often sitting for weeks, awaiting the delivery of items like garage doors and gutters. Wall Street Journal No End in...
December 20th – Full House
Programing note: I'll be posting a bit more intermittently over the next couple of weeks. Wishing you all Merry Christmas and happy holidays! What I'm Reading Full House: People are increasingly buying homes with their friends as a way to deal with high costs and gain a foothold in the...
December 15th – Delay Tactics
What I'm Reading Delay Tactics: Planning departments in California cities are going to great effort to try to comply with California's new housing mandates. Unions and environmental groups are using CEQA to stifle those efforts. Two stalled projects in my hometown of Newport Beach illustrate the problem. OC Register Latest...