What I'm Reading Back to School: The first half of 2020 was all about a shortage of demand for goods and services. The experience of 2021 has been exactly the opposite - demand is booming, yet supply is limited. The current labor shortage that American businesses are facing is playing...
April 12th – The Great Invasion
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...
December 4th – Strings Attached
What I’m Reading Strings Attached: CMBS borrowers that were granted initial forbearance in Q2 2020 are requesting another round of debt relief from servicers. However, even if granted this relief is likely to come with more stringent parameters such as additional equity contributions and personal recourse. Those who refuse or don’t...
November 25th – Locked Down
What I’m Reading Locked Down: In a move that should come as no surprise, President Elect Joe Biden and his team are leaning towards extending the CDC eviction moratorium that is set to expire December 31st. Ultimately, this program is just a band aid that forces landlords to shoulder the burden...
November 24th – Cracks in the Armor
What I’m Reading Cracks in the Armor: Chuck E Cheese (CEC Entertainment) was able to successfully use a Force Majeure clause to lower its rent in a bankruptcy case. This provided evidence that bankruptcy courts may be willing to grant debtors extraordinary relief in light of the ongoing pandemic, but...
November 13th – Pile Up
What I’m Reading Pile Up: Corporate tenants put a record 42 million square feet of space on the office market in the second and third quarters, according to data firm CoStar Group Inc. That increased the total sublease space in the U.S. to roughly 157 million square feet, or 1.7% of...
November 3rd – Bounce Back
What I’m Reading Bounce Back: Apartment demand rebounded strongly in the third quarter outside of high-priced gateway markets. The rebound helped to stabilize the multifamily market and prevented asking rents from declining as much as would have been expected considering the historic decline in economic performance in the second quarter. Yardi...
November 2nd – Lifeline
What I’m Reading One Big Thing: A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how ESG trends are likely to provide a growing headwind for the office market in the coming years. Today, I’m going to focus on a different segment of the real estate market that I’ve followed closely for years: housing....
October 15th – Permanent Vacation
What I’m Reading Permanent Vacation: Vacation home demand is soaring during the pandemic as people with means look for places to escape to now that they can’t travel abroad. Wall Street Journal See Also: Park City, Utah’s housing market is white hot as wealthy buyers pile in, pushing median home prices above $2MM. The Salt...
October 8th – Tip of the Iceberg
What I’m Reading Tip of the Iceberg: Germany will introduce new legislation giving all employees the right to work from home in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, following Ireland, France and The Netherlands. If this trend continues, it will have negative impacts on office markets around the world. The Telegraph Time’s...