What I'm Reading In N Out: Starwood is throwing in the towel on the mall business, selling 22 of the 30 malls that it owned before COVID and taking a loss in order to get out from underneath approximately $2 billion in CMBS debt. Essentially, Starwood decided that they will...
July 13th – Risky Business
What I'm Reading Liftoff: With apartment shortages across much of the country, rents are climbing at the fastest pace seen in decades. Smaller growth markets like Boise continue to lead the way. With for sale housing expensive and development not keeping pace with demand in most places, the real risk...
July 7th – No Vacancy
Chart of the Day As a general rule, most large apartment landlords set rent to try and maintain 95% occupancy at their properties. A 5% vacancy factor is typically used for loan sizing, so there is very little upside from a valuation perspective. The prevailing view in the industry is...
June 24th – Quid Pro Quo
What I'm Reading Payoff: Gov. Gavin Newsom says California will pay off all the past-due rent that accumulated in the nation's most populated state because of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a promise to make landlords whole while giving renters a clean slate. I'm sure that its just a...
June 23rd – Out of Harm’s Way
What I'm Reading Sticker Shock: Non-transitory inflation could provide some benefit to owners of existing buildings that would help offset more expensive debt. Higher input prices for construction could, in theory, limit supply growth in every real estate sector, even as demand grows, which would help support the recovery in...
June 16th – Called It
What I'm Reading Called It: About a year ago, there was a lot of handwringing over what would happen to the millions of homeowners in forbearance once accommodations expired. I pointed out (on the old blog) that we wouldn't see any meaningful distressed sales because borrowers were equity rich. Instead,...
June 11th – Sweet Spot
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 1st – Taking Aim
What I'm Reading Don't Call it a Comeback: 2021 has been a banner year for apartment rent growth thus far with rents nationwide rents now surpassing where they would have been had the pandemic never happened. ApartmentList Inside Deal: Real-estate agents are selling more homes to select customers while bypassing...
May 10th – Leading Indicator
What I'm Reading Out Ahead: Zumper's National Rent Report last week showed some improvements in most, but not all of the expensive coastal cities that were hit especially hard by COVID. IMO, the big news was in some of the raw search data that wasn't in the report but rather...
May 6th – More Than Meets the Eye
What I'm Reading Evolution: A new breed of flexible work landlords is converting unused suburban retail locations to office space, potentially transforming downtowns in the process. Wall Street Journal Bottleneck: The Biden administration is racing to end a bottleneck that has prevented state and local governments from distributing nearly $50...