What I'm Reading Spread Out: In a substantial shift from the past decade, more Americans now say that they prefer a community with big houses even if local amenities are farther away. Part of this is due to Millennial household formation and part is due to the pandemic. However, the...
August 27th – Failure to Launch
What I'm Reading Failure to Launch: Yesterday, the Supreme Court overturned the eviction ban in a 6-3 vote, as expected. New York Times The real story here should be how poor of a job we have been doing with rent relief. Only $4.7 billion of almost $47 billion appropriated by...
April 6th – Take My Money
What I'm Reading Bidding War: Yield-chasing investors are snapping up single family homes, competing with homebuyers and driving up prices. The wave of institutional capital hitting this space is massive and has created an environment where prices are rising much quicker than incomes, prompting JBREC to issue a report concluding...
April 2nd – Go Time
What I'm Reading Go Time: Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing the Senate toward lifting the federal prohibition on marijuana with legislation that would represent the biggest overhaul of federal drug policy in decades. The plan goes beyond decriminalization and is expected to remove marijuana from the list of controlled...
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...
February 12th – Green Machine
What I'm Reading Green Machine: As if brick and mortar retail landlords and businesses don't already have enough cause for concern, a new study by the MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab found a tangible environmental benefit to online shopping. In particular, the study concluded that carbon emissions from online shopping...
January 21st – Misplaced Priorities
One Big Thing President Joe Biden comes into office with a housing plan that includes a $15,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. IMO, encouraging first time homebuying is a worthy goal but doesn't really solve our current problem - not enough houses are getting built to satisfy existing demand, which would...
January 12th – Fallout
What I’m Reading Fallout: CoStar is estimating that the reckoning from COVID will eventually result in $126 billion of distressed real estate sales with a heavy concentration in lodging and retail. However, with an estimated $200 billion of capital raised to capitalize on such an opportunity, it is difficult to see...