- For iBuyers, the Price Is Right “Capitalism can be a bummer, but it isn’t a crime. In a soaring and ultracompetitive housing market, U.S. consumers are finding it difficult to buy a home. Zillow Research shows the typical U.S. home was worth over $300,000 in August—up over 23% from the same time two years ago—pricing out many single families. IBuyers including Zillow Group, Opendoor Technologies and Offerpad, that buy and flip homes with the help of algorithms, may have had a hand in that.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- California Urges Renters to Apply for Aid as Eviction Ban Ends “California officials are urging low-income renters to apply for assistance ahead of the Sept. 30 eviction ban expiration. State law adopted this year bars landlords from evicting tenants through March 31, 2022, if the tenants complete an application for aid, according to the Los Angeles Times. The state’s $5.2 billion assistance program now covers 100 percent of back rent and future rent as well as utilities.” (Bisnow)
- Predicting the Return to the Office “Many companies had been planning on a broad return to the office this summer and fall before the rise of the Delta variant. The increases in cases in many parts of the world have caused a significant, if temporary, postponement of those plans, as occupiers await declines in virus cases and/or continued progress towards herd resiliency through adequate vaccination rates. With vaccine rates continuing to climb, and the Delta variant expected to peak in October 2021, we believe this is an important time to take stock of global and regional trends relating to the return of employees to the office.” (Cushman & Wakefield)
- SEC Charges Cannabis Real Estate Crowdfunding Organizers with Fraud “The SEC says a crowdfunding platform didn't invest in cannabis real estate as promised.” (Bisnow)
- Europe’s New Property Giant Is Built on Shaky Governance “Investing in German housing is usually boring, predictable and lucrative. But when the time comes for mergers and acquisitions it can turn into a sketchy neighborhood. Frankfurt-listed residential landlord Vonovia is closing in on a roughly $22 billion takeover of its peer Deutsche Wohnen. The latest version of the deal is Vonovia’s third attempt to buy its smaller competitor and seems likely to succeed. It will unite Europe’s two largest listed property companies by market value to create an industry behemoth rivaling the largest U.S. real-estate investment trusts for scale.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- A Newark Day: Inside the Brick City’s Burgeoning Development Boom “The past 18 months haven’t been kind to Newark, which lost more than 1,000 residents to the coronavirus, experienced flooding in September during Hurricane Ida, and saw foot traffic downtown slow to a trickle as commuting office workers and students stayed in the suburbs. But New Jersey’s largest city is slowly returning to normal, and its nascent revitalization is continuing with a slew of large residential projects — most with affordable housing — inching forward in downtown and outlying wards.” (Commercial Observer)
- When Real Estate Agents Led the Fight Against Fair Housing “In 1964, nine months after Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a real estate broker and former newspaperman from Fresno, California, delivered a different kind of address. His crusade was part of a ‘great war’ against fair housing laws. As part of a wide-ranging public relations and political campaign, Lawrence “Spike” Wilson, president of the powerful California Real Estate Association (CREA), gave speeches, devised talking points and created messaging aimed squarely against the Rumford Act, a pioneering fair housing law.” (Bloomberg)
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