One Big Thing Topping Out: Economic data is beginning to show signs that the recent surge in US inflation is peaking, despite higher than expected CPI readings that were heavily influenced by massive inflation in used cars. Capital Spectator The second half of this year could be really interesting if...
June 8th – Slow Out of the Gate
What I'm Reading Slow Out of the Gate: Another meh jobs report shows that the summertime economic boom that many anticipated with reopening may not be quite so hot: "To the degree that the labor shortage is caused by expanded jobless benefits or schools that are closed, it should go...
June 7th – Not As It Seems
One Big Thing As you can see from the Chart of the Day Below, we are finally back to 1970 levels when it comes to housing production in the United States (h/t Taylor Grant). Hooray, I guess. While things are certainly better than they were a few years ago, this...
June 3rd – Another One Bites the Dust
What I'm Reading Another One Bites the Dust: Katerra, a SoftBank backed startup that said it could slash the cost of building and renovating apartments with offsite construction, is going bankrupt and may not even have enough cash to pay severance. This is the latest edition to the graveyard of...
May 28th – Risky Business
One Big Thing Real Assets Adviser / IREI published an editorial that I wrote about some of the often-unseen risks in crowdfunded real estate transactions as part of their June edition: Warren Buffet famously said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” In recent...
May 26th – Piling On
What I'm Reading Piling On: The US Commerce Department has made a recommendation to more than double tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber in the midst of a housing affordability crisis that has been driven in part by soaring building costs. If the Biden Administration wanted to make the crisis worse,...
May 25th – Sending a Message
What I'm Reading Backlash: Ireland is trying to keep institutional investor firms from buying up its housing stock by imposing a 10% tax on a the purchase of 10 or more homes. The tax will apply to bulk purchases and cumulative acquisitions of 10 or more homes a year but...
May 24th – No Slack
What I'm Reading No Slack: Nearly every economic issue that we are currently experiencing is a result of the lack of slack in our system being a feature and not a bug. David Merkel sums the conundrum up perfectly: There's not enough slack in the system. We need more redundancy....
May 18th – Everything Must Go
What I'm Reading Everything Must Go: San Francisco's biggest tech companies are sitting on a mountain of empty office space that has come available for sublease. Unlike landlords, these companies are not in the business of leasing real estate and are willing to take big impairments to sublease at a...
May 14th – Safe Haven
What I'm Reading Safe Haven: Capital is flooding into Opportunity Zones as other traditional real estate tax advantages come under fire from the Biden Administration. At the moment, it looks like any revisions to the program will be minor, making it relatively more attractive to investors in the event that...