Keeping politics away from investments
President Joe Biden’s Labor Department recently announced a new rule that will permit money managers to play politics with trillions of dollars of people’s retirement savings. The administration is pushing environmental, social, and governance investing,...
Our perception of skilled trades needs to change
The U.S. is in the midst of a crisis of masculinity. According to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, men without four-year college degrees, ages 25 to 54, have left...
Apartments hold steady despite uncertainty
The pandemic years have created a winning trifecta of high rent, occupancy and demand in the multifamily sector. Vacancies dropped to 5.8 percent, their lowest level since the mid-1980s, rents reached record highs while...
An inside job
Only by contact with evil could I have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness. —Helen Keller There’s a lot of unhappiness out there. Certainly there are legitimate reasons...
Land prices drop
Rising interest rates stress developers as they look for land to build on. But tough times may create opportunities. Land prices are falling—for the first time in more than ten years. Apartment developers are asking...
The housing boom is already over. The housing shortage will continue.
As mortgage rates have risen this year, the buyer demand for homes has fallen. That has spelled trouble for the home construction business. Homebuilder confidence dropped for the tenth straight month in October. The...
U.S. household wealth sees second-fastest decline since 1959
Household wealth in the United States fell by its second-fastest pace in history in the first three quarters of the year, but was buoyed by a positive performance in real estate, according to a...
Congress targets institutional investors
In December, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley introduced a new piece of legislation to his colleagues aimed at limiting hedge fund ownership of residential housing. “Everyone should have a safe, affordable place to call home,” said...
Tight fuel supplies. Faltering grid. What could go wrong?
As the snow flies and temperatures plummet, regulatory agencies and analysts alike warn that residents in multiple states are at an elevated risk of dangerous winter blackouts. Areas like Texas, the Great Lakes region, New...
Relive history
A historic school in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, will serve generations to come as an apartment complex. The old Mary B. Sharpe Elementary School was sold at auction for $600,000 according to John F. Kohler Jr. of...
The backlash against ESG investing is here
Environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investing grew rapidly in recent years, with vigorous promotion from many large asset managers and generally positive media attention. The honeymoon for ESG has ended this year, with high-profile...
Predictions for 2023
Next year will bring a moderate economic recession by October, negative annual rent growth of 1 to 5 percent, and increasing levels of real estate investor/manager distress predicts fund manager Origin Investments, specializing in...
Same assets. Better performance.
Revenue management has been an indispensable price optimization tool in multifamily since the launch of Lease Rent Optimizer (LRO) and YieldStar 15 years ago, both developed in conjunction with large multifamily property REITs and...
The most important thing
Capitalism, wrote Marian L. Tupy and Gale L. Pooley in their book, Superabundance, succeeds not only because it is efficient but because it correctly locates the source of wealth in the human mind. Their book...
Benchmarking rules tighten
There’s an unexpected piece of paper taped to the glass entrance of 550 Vanderbilt, a luxury, high-rise in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. Visitors might see it as they enter Ciao Gloria, the...
