What I'm Reading Tailwind: American household balance sheets are flush, with assets growth far outpacing liabilities over the past year. A lot of this is due to home price inflation and consumers tapping HELOCs for consumption and investment could provide fuel for economic growth. Bloomberg Waiting List: Winnebago is the...
June 21st – Pop Up
What I'm Reading On Demand: Pop-up distribution centers are becoming a thing as the pandemic forced retailers and e-commerce platforms to quickly and cost-effectively respond to localized demand surges in their supply chains. Chain Store Age Cream Rises to the Top: For years, international investors favored office buildings when it...
April 23rd – Dead on Arrival
What I'm Reading Dead on Arrival: $12.3 trillion of economic stimulus over the past year effectively killed off the US credit default cycle despite the lingering pandemic, resulting in the lowest-rated companies enjoying their cheapest borrowing costs in history. Bloomberg Blowback: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an interim rule...
April 19th – So It Begins (In Earnest)
What I'm Reading So It Begins: Despite the economic recovery, Q4 bank loan CRE data showed an uptick in distress, especially in hospitality assets. To be sure, this is still much lower than many anticipated but supports the thesis that reopening is a moment of truth for struggling properties. Those...
April 14th – Scapegoat
What I'm Reading Scapegoat: Luxury housing developments are often vilified by NIMBYs. However, they play an important role in the housing ecosystem. In a market that is functioning properly, today's new luxury unit is tomorrow's move-up and, if not enough new units are built, the fixed housing supply gets bid...
March 26th – Recycled
What I'm Reading Recycled: In a sign of how valuable logistics real estate has become, some developers are taking old, unused golf courses and building warehouses on them. Imagine trying to explain this to someone who time traveled to 2021 from 2002. Bloomberg En Fuego: Austin has become America's hottest...
March 12th – Stressing Out
What I'm Reading Stressing Out: Fitch Ratings published a stress test that concluded, in a worst case scenario, office values could fall 50% if remote work sticks. Fitch ran various stress scenarios ranging from moderate to severe to determine how telework would impact demand, rent and net cash flow on...
February 25th – Swamped
What I'm Reading Swamped: As the nation begins to climb out of the depths of the COVID-19 crisis, landlords will be forced to fight for office tenants, creating a tenant’s market unlike any other over the past few decades with availability rising 15-20% in some markets. Vestian Hot Spots: Boise,...
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...
February 9th – Hybrid Model
What I'm Reading Hybrid: Retail stores are increasingly adopting a hybrid model, whereby they accommodate both in-store shoppers and the fulfillment of e-commerce orders, creating a new asset class that sits somewhere between retail and distribution. This is likely to lead to major changes in the next few year. For...