Jobs coming back, but slowly
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report for July. It shows that the jobs market is continuing to recover from the COVID-19 induced shutdowns, but...
Lumber drives construction material prices higher again
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its producer price index report for August 2020. It showed that the BLS price index of materials and components for construction was up 0.9 percent from July,...
Rent growth barely positive in August
Yardi Matrix released its August 2020 report on the multifamily rental housing market. The report shows that rent growth was positive for the second month in a row and that secondary markets are doing...
Payroll tax holiday begins Sept. 1
At the beginning of August, President Trump issued an executive order deferring certain payroll tax obligations. This was done in response to Congress refusing to include any type of payroll tax cut in its...
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...
Multifamily property values outperform since COVID
A pair of recent reports, one from CoStar and another from Real Capital Analytics (RCA), track the changes in values of commercial property in the United States. This article looks at the parts of...
Rent growth turns positive in August
Apartment List is out with their rent report for August 2020. It shows a slight uptick in rents nationally but with wide local variations.
The big picture
A summary of Apartment List’s data on rent changes...
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...
Urban housing markets forecast to recover
Moody’s Investor Services recently released a report discussing the future of urban areas, and particularly of urban housing, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why cities?
The report acknowledges the many uncertainties that surround how...
COVID impacts relocation plans
The COVID-19 pandemic and the changes it has caused in our lives are bound to have an impact on where people choose to live. A variety of sources have attempted to measure the impact...
Multifamily mortgage originations fall in Q2
A Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) report on mortgage originations shows that, while multifamily mortgage originations fell in the latest quarter, they held up better than did originations for other commercial property types.
Setting a baseline
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...
Jobs coming back, but slowly
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report for June. It shows that the jobs market is continuing to recover from the COVID-19 induced shutdowns, but...
Multifamily property values fall in Q2
CoStar recently released its quarterly report on the change in value of commercial property in the United States. This article looks at the part of the report that deals with multifamily property values.
Defining the indices
The...
Construction material prices rise on higher lumber prices
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its producer price index report for July 2020. It showed that the BLS price index of materials and components for construction was up 0.5 percent from June,...
