What I'm Reading Liftoff: Apartment List's national rent survey for May showed its largest monthly jump going back to 2017 as coastal markets rebound and midsized markets that soared in 2020 show few signs of slowing down. This further backs up the story we posted yesterday about OAR picking up. ...
April 16th – Backlog
What I'm Reading Backlog: During COVID, many US courts stopped functioning for months before adopting new technologies to move cases through, albeit more slowly than before. At the same time, cases including landlord-tenant disputes, foreclosures, contract disputes, tax appeals, partnership settlements have been piling up. Experts fear that once courts...
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 8th – Deflating
What I'm Reading Deflating: A new study by data firm VTS, which tracks tens of thousands of negotiations across the U.S. between landlords and tenants found that big companies are sticking with their city-center office buildings. However, they are also cutting back on space, likely driving down rent for years...
March 11th – Bailed Out
What I'm Reading Bailed Out: The latest round of federal stimulus will provide San Francisco with about $600MM over the next two years, wiping out the vast majority of its $650MM budget deficit and likely sparing it from substantial budget cuts. This was always the bullish case for blue cities...
March 9th – Unfinished Business
What I'm Reading Unfinished Business: A new ruling in a Georgia lawsuit between a landlord and tenant found that that by accepting reduced and irregular payments for an extended period, plaintiff Atlanta Life Financial group had created a quasi-new agreement. It ruled that by accepting 16 months of initially reduced...
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...
March 4th – Balancing Act
What I'm Reading Balancing Act: With home prices up 14.8% YOY in January and mortgage rates rising of late as well, fewer households are able to qualify for a mortgage. The beneficiary of this will likely be rental housing, both apartments and SFR. Marcus and Millichap Leverage: The Massachusetts Superior...
March 2nd – Backroom Deal
What I'm Reading Locked and Loaded: Private Equity firms’ global real estate funds are now sitting on more than $300 billion of unspent cash, according to Preqin data. Their attention is now turned to what happens when government support and bank forbearance expires. Most of this capital is looking for...
February 26th – Mind the Gap
One Big Thing Treasury yields are soaring of late so of course a lot of the conversation around commercial real estate in general and multi-family in particular is when cap rates will begin to reflect this. I have a bit of a contrarian take that I outlined on a Twitter...