If you plan to play the REITs game next year, here’s what you need to know. “Bad News for REIT Investors” … “Negative Ratings Bias Rises as North American REITs Confront Effects of Covid-19” … “From Bad to Worse for REITs” … It’s not hard to find articles that talk about how unattractive the REITs […]
In the early years of my career, I wanted to start my own business. Stories of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley captured my imagination, and in 1994 I took the plunge. In 2000 we sold our business to a public company, and promptly watched the stock we received in the acquisition drop by about 97% when […]
The paper of record in 2020 shifted dramatically to the most illiberal stance possible on the virus, pushing for full lockdowns, and ignoring or burying any information that might contradict the case for this unprecedented experiment in social and economic control. This article highlights the exceptions. The first shocking sign of the placing of a […]
How the world’s most popular golfer was implicated in the Florida land boom. […]
Most people today regard America’s experiment with alcohol prohibition as a national embarrassment, rightly repealed in 1933. So it will be with the closures and lockdowns of 2020, some day. In 1920, however, to be for the repeal of the prohibition that was passed took courage. You were arguing against prevailing opinion backed by celebratory […]
In the world of commercial real estate office leasing, the sublease market offers a less transparent subset of supply and demand that is difficult to track at best, and frustratingly illogical at worst. Because sublessors are in cost recovery mode, it is challenging to bring parties to the table and walk away with a win-win. […]
Along with air miles and an agenda, a passport was probably the least useful accessory of 2020. For those of us as familiar with business lounges as we were with sun loungers, this has been an unusual year. But the signs, for passports at least, are that they are back in popularity, and covid-19 is […]
During the last four years, the prospects for freer world trade have been in retreat. Now, with a new broom about to sweep into the White House, there is renewed hope for progress both in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations. Financial markets have been focused on fiscal stimulus and the prospects for an effective covid-19 […]
Historically, political party control of the US government has not had much bearing on investment performance of commercial real estate. However, NCREIF data (since its 1978 inception) shows that Democratic administrations produced somewhat stronger 10.4% average total returns on US institutionally owned property, while Republican administrations produced 8.6%.1 With Democrats ushering in a victory on […]
A physical market cycle analysis of four property types across 54 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for 3Q2020. The V-shaped recovery happened (-32% GDP in Q2 then +33% GDP in Q3) but only for a portion of the economy. Any business dependent upon consumer contact was down or flat at best. Add the flat line to […]
