Banks increase share of multifamily mortgage debt in Q2
A Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) report on commercial and multifamily mortgage debt shows that the GSEs continued to be the largest source of net new multifamily mortgage funds in Q2. However, for the first...
The great migration
The future of the apartment industry looks bright. Demand for rental homes is strong, rent growth has returned to pre-pandemic levels and renters who fled major cities in 2020 are showing renewed interest in...
The case for optimism
Clarity of purpose guides the path forward in every time and every place. Whether in life, business or country, we will be neither the first, nor the last, to face adversity. Whether we despair...
Infographic: Digital exposure
World Economic Forum (WEF) announced the results of its first global simulation in October, 2019, predicting a catastrophic pandemic. Months later the world was hit with COVID. Their latest sim predicts a worldwide cyber...
Infographic: Pandemic pivot
Lockdowns fueled yet another wave of automation for many property management businesses. AI and 5G are expected to continue the momentum as the internet of things continues to grow and expand. 3 million jobs...
Infographic: Infrastructure bill
The $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill contains just $550 billion in new spending. The remainder are annual allocations for highways and other infrastructure. New spending includes: $110 billion roads and bridges $66 billion railroads $65...
A cautionary housing tale
Can society be designed? Can an expert engineer alleviate people’s pains and struggles with a good-enough central plan and blueprint? Minoru Yamasaki thought so. Yamasaki was one of America’s most well-respected architects in the 20th century...
Operations enter time-space continuum
Fast, reliable, wireless internet service is not only a nice amenity for residents, it can also cure a long list of headaches for apartment companies. Over the last ten years, a revolution has slowly spread...
It’s back.
In late August, the Supreme Court struck down the Centers for Disease Control’s so-called “eviction moratorium.” The justices ruled that the federal agency did not have the legal authority to unilaterally extend a prohibition...
How to make housing affordable
An old joke goes as follows: Patient to doc: “Doc, it hurts when I do this.” Doctor to patient: “Quit doing that.” That joke applies to the issue of affordable housing. Many people talk about what governments...
Forecasts predict slower growth, higher inflation
A pair of economic forecasts, one from Fannie Mae and one from the Federal Reserve project lower growth and higher inflation for the rest of 2021 than did earlier forecasts by the same agencies. Fannie...
What happened in 1971?
Something huge happened in 1971. And both Edward Snowden and Jack Dorsey are asking the same question. In mid-August, Twitter Founder and CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted a strange hashtag: #WTFHappenedin1971. A few weeks later, Edward Snowden,...
What if they opened the office and nobody came?
For months, corporate hegemons, real estate brokers and their media acolytes have been insisted that a return to “normalcy,” that is, to the office, was imminent. Some companies threatened to reduce the incomes of...
Small answers big problems
The Biden administration is taking steps to address a severe housing shortage in the U.S. by creating and selling 100,000 affordable homes over the next three years using existing funds, the White House said...
Careening for disaster
President Biden and progressive allies are advancing a historic $4.5+ trillion spending plan that would vastly expand the government’s reach into climate change, welfare policy, and just about everything else in between. To “pay...
