Construction material prices up in May
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its Producer Price Index for May last week. It showed that overall prices for processed goods for intermediate demand were up 1.5 percent in May and they...
Census releases housing construction data for May, 2018
The Census Bureau, in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), released its monthly new residential construction report for May, 2018. The strength in multifamily housing starts was the brightest part of...
Philadelphia passes tax to fund affordable housing
Thursday, the Philadelphia city council voted to create a new construction impact tax. The measure passed by a 9 to 8 vote. Before it becomes law, it must be signed by the mayor who...
NDC issues report on America’s housing shortage
A group called the New Democrat Coalition issued a report this week on the nation’s housing shortage titled “Missing Millions of Homes.” The report seeks to identify the problems with supplying housing in America...
Construction job churn continues but so does growth
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report for April was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this week. Its data on construction employment shows continued churning in that segment of the construction...
Report shows decelerating rent growth
The Yardi Matrix Monthly Multifamily report for May was released last week. It showed that rents continued their rise nationally, although more slowly. This slowdown was attributed to the increased supply of apartments which...
Multifamily job openings continue their rise
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report for April. It showed that the number of job openings exceeded the number of unemployed people for the first...
Yardi steps onto the path to machine learning
Yardi held its Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference (YASC) in Washington DC last week. This sold out event brings Yardi employees and customers together so that customers can be trained on current products and be...
The history of Memorial Day
Memorial Day is much more than just a three-day weekend and a chance to get the year's first sunburn. Here's a handy 10-pack of facts to give the holiday some perspective. 1. It started with...
MBA survey shows growth for multifamily mortgages in Q1
Last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Q1 2018 quarterly survey of commercial/multifamily mortgage bankers originations. The report shows that originations of multifamily mortgages were up strongly in Q1 compared to the...
Carson emphasizes self-sufficiency despite level HUD budget
"Every year, it takes more money, millions of dollars more, to serve the same number of households,” Sec. Carson said recently. “It’s clear from a budget perspective and a human point of view that...
New Census data sheds light on housing availability
On May 24, the Census Bureau released its estimates of the number of housing units versus the population of the United States by region. The data give a clue to housing availability in the...
Retail goes rental
Retail developers met in Las Vegas this week at the industry's annual convention. Rather than discussing dismal traffic numbers or the shadow of Amazon, the tone was surprisingly upbeat—a marked change from recent years....
Free market not welcome
The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) has filed suit in federal court against the city of Seattle over a ban on the use of rent bidding sites. The suit was filed behalf of RentBerry, a...
Fair Housing 50 years later
The Fair Housing Act turned 50 this year. The charter that began with government-mandated racially-balanced communities has paved the way for today’s organically derived communities where Americans of different races, for the most part...
