Economy/Ecommerce

Economy Watch: CRE Benefits from Easier Money

Among all the other metrics the Federal Reserve tracks, each quarter it publishes the “Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices.” In the case of the April 2015 survey for Q1, the central bank summarized responses from 76 domestic banks and 23 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.

Economy Watch: Construction Spending Continues to Drop Because of Energy

U.S. construction spending continued on a downward trajectory in March.

Economy Watch: Real Estate’s Part of the GDP

After releasing the 30,000-foot view of U.S. economic growth for each quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis releases a load of detail the next day, which in this case was Thursday. The underlying details include real estate data that breaks down total spending on most property types, as a percentage of GDP.

Economy Watch: U.S. Economy Turns in Weak First Quarter

As expected—since a number of economic indicators have been pointing that way—the U.S. economy didn’t grow much during the first quarter of 2015, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Economy Watch: Housing Sees Modest Price Increases

The latest Case-Shiller indexes are out, and they point to smallish increases in the prices of houses nationwide.

Economy Watch: Transit Indicators Positive for Retail, Industrial Sectors

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor  Trucking is as a barometer of the U.S. economy, since it tracks the movement of manufactured and retail goods–which move in response to demand. All together, the trucking industry represents nearly 70 percent of tonnage carried by all modes of U.S. freight transportation. Persistently strong trucking also means that conditions are positive for industrial real estate, which handles volumes of shipped goods; and retail real estate, the end recipient of much of the shipping. Monthly fluctuations by themselves might not mean that much, but a run of strong numbers is good. The American Trucking Association…

‘Economy Watch’ Podcast with Dees Stribling: Uncertainty in Other Parts of the World

Uncertainty in other parts of the world can impact real estate here.

Economy Watch: Economy Benefiting from Home Sales

What’s good in residential real estate is usually good for commercial real estate (eventually), and the best thing that can happen on the residential side these days are higher sales that don’t feed another bubble.