Census releases housing construction data for February, 2019
The Census Bureau released its monthly new residential construction report for February 2019. The report shows a market with conflicting signals with permit issuance and building starts going in opposite directions. Permits soften Nationally, permits for...
Jobs markets show strength
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report for January was recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Its data on the parts of the job market of interest to the multifamily...
Seattle zones for affordable housing
The Seattle city council has passed, and the mayor has signed, new zoning laws that will allow higher density housing to be built in 27 Seattle neighborhoods. The plan will affect about 6 percent...
Opportunity Zones beckon
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the Act) created Opportunity Zones in an effort to attract investment to economically distressed communities. New investments in Opportunity Zones made through Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOF)...
Rent control back in play in California
When California voters in 2018 soundly rejected a proposition to allow rent control to be imposed statewide, you would be excused for thinking that the issue would be considered settled for a while. If...
Continued strength in multifamily rentals
Yardi Matrix released its February report on the multifamily housing market. The report describes a market with healthy year-over-year rent growth and solid occupancy numbers. Keeping the streak alive Yardi Matrix reported that the average rent...
Trump administration releases FY2020 HUD budget proposal
On Monday, HUD released the outline of the Trump administration’s HUD budget proposal for FY 2020. It seeks to cut the agency’s budget by $8.6 billion, eliminating some programs while boosting spending on others. Dead...
Katerra takes off
When we last checked in with Katerra, it was a company with lots of cash and big plans for disrupting the construction industry. They recently held their Katerra Take Off event in Las Vegas...
Construction material prices steady in February
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its producer price index report for February, 2019. It showed that overall prices for processed goods for intermediate demand rose by 0.4 percent from January after declining...
Census releases housing construction data for January 2019
The Census Bureau released its monthly new residential construction report for January 2019. If it seems like you were just reading about the December report last week, that’s because you were. Since the December...
Measuring Millennials
Pew Research recently released a study of Millennials as young adults (aged 25 to 37) and compared their characteristics to the traits of the generations that came before them when they were the same...
Virginia passes tenant protections
Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia recently signed a number of measures designed to increase tenant protections in the state. Several other bills with the same goal have passed the legislature and are awaiting action...
RentCafe sees boom in older renters
A new report from RentCafe looks at the changing demographics of the renting population in the United States. It concludes that renters over the age of 60 are the fastest growing portion of the...
Studying transit oriented development
A recently released study on the impact on new housing construction of zoning changes allowing higher density development near transit stations in the city of Chicago is generating a lot of discussion in the...
Assessing and addressing California’s housing needs
Governor Newsom of California recently made waves when his administration sued the city of Huntington Beach over its failure to meet state mandates for housing production. A new report from Next 10, a nonpartisan...