California rent control – round 3 is on
The California Secretary of State’s (CASoS) office announced that the rent control initiative called the Justice for Renters Act has qualified for the November 2024 election ballot. California voters will have their third opportunity...
Fannie Mae updates 2021 and 2022 forecasts
Fannie Mae recently revised its economic outlook for 2021. The new forecast predicts significantly higher growth over the next two years than their last forecast from only one month ago. The economists at Fannie...
Multifamily housing construction starts plunge in May
The Census Bureau’s new residential construction report for May showed softening in multifamily permit issuance and a drop in unit starts. Unit completions rose during the month but still trailed unit starts resulting in...
Construction materials price rises spread in February
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its producer price index report for February 2021. It showed that the BLS price index of materials and components for construction was up 1.4 percent in the...
Construction materials prices higher again in April
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its producer price index report for April 2021. It showed that construction materials prices were up 2.1 percent in the month, seasonally adjusted. The construction materials price...
GSEs increase share of multifamily mortgage debt again in Q4 2020
A Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) report on multifamily and other commercial mortgage debt shows that the GSEs accounted for 96 percent of the increase in multifamily mortgage debt outstanding in Q4.
Unlike the MBA report...
Construction materials price decline continues
The January producer price index (PPI) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated that construction materials prices fell 0.2 percent in the month, seasonally adjusted, the fifth monthly decline in a row....
Forecasts say higher inflation is coming
A pair of forecasts, one from Fannie Mae and one from the Federal Reserve anticipate that a period of significantly higher inflation than had been predicted in earlier forecasts may be on the way.
Fannie...
Construction materials price rises pause in September
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its producer price index (PPI) report for September 2021. It showed that construction components and materials prices were down 0.2 percent in the month, seasonally adjusted. However,...
Construction materials prices move higher
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its producer price index report for November 2021. It showed that construction components and materials prices were up 1.6 percent in the month, seasonally adjusted. The index...
How many housing units does California need by 2025?
A McKinsey study estimated California’s housing shortfall at 3.5 million units by 2025. Providing these units has been the stated goal of Governor Newsom and of the California State Legislature. A study by the...
Multifamily housing construction rebounds in July
The Census Bureau released its monthly new residential construction report for July 2020. It shows a strong rebound in multifamily housing construction.
Permits up strongly
The number of permits issued for buildings with 5 or more...
Senators ask DOJ to investigate revenue management software
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) along with senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate RealPage’s YieldStar revenue management product for “facilitating de-facto...
Costa Mesa adds housing through rehabs
As part of a statewide initiative to remediate its housing shortage, the state of California has mandated that the city of Costa Mesa zone for 11,760 new units of housing by 2029. To this...
New housing laws coming to California
The 2020 legislative session in California saw the consideration of at least 9 significant bills intended to address the state’s housing deficit. When the session ended at midnight on August 31, only two of...
