Blog
‘The Accidental Economist’ with Jack Kern: Take Two Price Increases and Call Me in the Morning
What many do not seem to realize is that pricing and revenue management practices are pushing residents into alternative housing choices, ones that rarely raise rents at the same rate as professionally managed buildings.
‘On the Ground’ with Eric Brown: Why Are You Poking Your Best Customers in the Eye?
Are you raising the rent across the board on each renewal? If you are, you are poking your best customers in the eye at lease renewal.
‘Foong on Finance’: Inflation Is Imminent, Says Analyst
Could higher inflation be around the corner? “The general expectation is that inflation is coming. The question is when, and by how much,” says a research analyst at a U.S. ratings agency.
‘Foong on Finance’: February Job Gain of 190,000 May Have Been Overstated
It is said that about 150,000 new jobs need to be created per month just to absorb new entrants into the labor force. For many months now, the payroll growth has fallen woefully short of that number. Last week brought good news. We got word that payroll growth was 192,000 in February. Finally. So much of the health of commercial real estate depends on the US employment situation. The news supports the notion that the economy is really on track to recovery. It turns out this number, like the unemployment number of 8.9 percent, may not entirely tell the whole story. How…
‘Gimme Shelter’ with Daniel Gehman: Transit-Oriented Debacle
This full-capacity transit situation is directly related to two factors: declining unemployment and rising gas prices.
‘On the Ground’ with Eric Brown: Is Your Apartment Marketing Working?
Instead of always talking to prospects, we have to help prospects talk to each other.
‘Foong on Finance’: Firm Predicts 5% Return for Commercial Real Estate this Year
John Flavin, principal of the real estate consulting and advisory firm Wolfback says that returns for institutional-grade commercial real estate will drop from 25 percent in 2010 to 5 percent beginning this year.
‘The Accidental Economist’ with Jack Kern: Consumer Confidence Tracks Renter Outlook
There are a number of consumer confidence surveys out there and with each passing week it seems yet another publisher is trying to index one thing or another. I have long since suspected that these surveys aren’t all that reliable as economic indicators, but they have been useful in one respect.
‘The Accidental Economist’ with Jack Kern: Why Frozen New Home Sales are Good for Builders and the Apartment Industry.
While the housing market is going through a painful transition right now, what lies on the other side of that transition is a more balanced, sensible market overall.
‘The Accidental Economist’ with Jack Kern: And the Census Says…
The Census Bureau has released some very interesting statistics from the American Housing Survey. The survey covers characteristics of the housing inventory in most metropolitan areas and there are always some surprises. For example, in 2009 in Seattle, homeowners in the Sea-Tac metro area paid a median monthly housing cost of $1,576, while renters paid $1,019 by comparison. Renters contributed a higher percentage of their incomes to housing costs (30%) than owners did (23%). Looking at Chicago for comparison, homeowners paid a median cost of $1,479 per month while the renter median was $895, also in 2009. Percentages of contributions…