- Strong Fundamentals, Weak Market: Why Multifamily Is a Hall of Mirrors “The Yardi Matrix data revealed that the fundamentals for multifamily ‘remain strong’ with ongoing demand, continued rent growth and nearly 1 million new deliveries expected over the next two years. But property values and sales prices have plummeted in 2023, and the high cost of debt has reduced demand and is also expected to lead to more defaults in the months ahead. Despite a shaky economy that appears poised to enter a recession, national multifamily rents increased through the first five months of 2023, with the average U.S. monthly rent reaching an all-time high of $1,716.” (Commercial Observer)
- The Contrarian Investors Betting on Commercial Real Estate “Jeremy Grantham and GMO, the Boston-based money manager he cofounded, aren't afraid to go against the grain. So with Wall Street sounding the alarm on commercial real estate, it's no surprise they're hunting for deals there.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Alternative Allocations: Opportunities in Commercial Real Estate “Consequently, advisors and investors have sought alternative sources of growth and income and an effective way to dampen volatility and hedge inflation. As the data below illustrate, real estate has historically delivered attractive risk-adjusted returns relative to stocks, bonds, and publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs).” (VettaFi)
- We asked if people want to be in the office Mondays, Fridays — or neither. A big landlord says 5-day workweeks are dead. “A little less than half of the respondents said they wouldn't go into the office on either Mondays or Fridays. Another 29% said they would go in on either a Monday or a Friday — but not both. And only 22% said they would go in on both Mondays and Fridays, given the choice.” (Insider)
- Housing Affordability Hits Another Low “Nationwide home affordability declined again in the second quarter of the year as rising prices pushed up the wages necessary to afford a home, according to a new report. Major homeownership expenses last quarter now require about 33 percent of a family’s monthly income, the report from nationwide property data provider ATTOM showed. Homes were less affordable in 98 percent of counties with data to analyze when compared to historical averages. This marks the highest debt-to-income ratio since 2007.” (The Hill)
- Andrew Kimball, New York City’s Economic Development Chief, On Filling Empty Offices “The arrival of Mayor Eric Adams to City Hall coincided with the most serious crisis over the future of those skyscrapers in city history. And Andrew Kimball, Adams’s director of economic development, is his point person in that battle.” (Commercial Observer)
- Twitter Faces Lawsuit Over Unpaid Office Fees—Again “An Australian-based infrastructure company has sued Twitter after the company allegedly failed to pay its bills for more than $600,000 in office work around the world, marking at least the sixth lawsuit the social media giant has faced over failing to make payments on its offices since billionaire Elon Musk took over the company in October.” (Forbes)
- Office Turmoil Roils Ground-Lease Negotiations “Under ground-lease arrangements, the building operator pays rent to the owner of the land. Historically, these rents have been recalibrated periodically based on the land’s appraised value at that moment in time. That process, often contentious, is especially tricky now because of slowing property sales and turmoil in the office sector.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- The Price Is Right? Real Estate Merits More Measures “Real estate is a heterogenous asset and a myriad of factors influence the price a buyer is willing to pay for a building. This presents a challenge when it comes to gauging property-market prices and values because, by their nature, every market-level measure includes a wide variety of buildings, each qualitatively different from the other.” (MSCI)
- There’s More Available Office Space in Manhattan Than Ever Before “The amount of available office space in Manhattan hit an all-time high of 70 million square feet in the second quarter of 2023, according to Savills, as leasing remained down by 25 percent compared to the second-quarter pre-pandemic average.” (Commercial Observer)
- ‘I Sold My Soul, But Warhol Would Be Proud’ “Deniz Miller, 31, is one such art consultant. She says creating the work that adorns the walls of retirement homes and taking direction from the interior designer of a highway hotel is actually a pretty good job, though you have to develop a thick skin.” (Curbed)
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