Urbanexus Update - Issue #19
Please scroll down for the weekly compilation of information and opinion about real estate and community development.
Economy in the USA
GDP grew at 4.1% annual rate in Q2 2018 The acceleration in gross domestic product was widely anticipated by economists, a result of a confluence of events unlikely to recur.
Is housing signaling trouble for U.S. economy? — seekingalpha.com
The 2Q 2018 GDP report delivered upbeat news about the US economy. Wobbly housing data may be telling a different story.
Housing
The state of housing in the USA
The 30th anniversary of the State of the Nation’s Housing series presents an opportunity to reflect on how housing market conditions in the United States have evolved over the decades.
Are irresponsible mortgage lenders creating a second housing bubble?
Median incomes have lagged home price increases in hot West Coast markets, raising fears of a housing bubble. Rents have been falling while prices continue to rise.
Almost 70% of millennials regret buying their homes About four in 10 millennials are homeowners, but they're not necessarily happy about it.
Apartment absorption remains steady — eyeonhousing.org
The US Census Bureau's Survey of Market Absorption (SOMA) is produced in collaboration with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to the SOMA, completions of unfurnished, unsubsidized apartments in buildings with five or more units totaled to 70,400 in the fourth quarter of 2017. This is only 2 percent lower than completions in the fourth quarter of 2016 (72,100).
Top selling master-planned communities in the USA
RCLCO has prepared an interactive map tool which visualizes the sales at Top-Selling MPCs across the country, from 2013 to the present. Through this visualization, it is clear to see that Florida, Texas, and California represent the largest share of home sales among the top-selling communities, with the share of sales in other states steadily growing in recent years.
City ranking
A Wallet Hub ranking of metropolitan areas may spark some debate.
Investments and transactions
Downtown Seattle block sold for $359 million
Unico and AEW acquired a full downtown block occupied by the 1111 Third Avenue tower and the 2nd & Spring Building. The seller was Montreal-headquartered Ivanhoé Cambridge, which bought the propertiesn 2014 for $280 million. The buildings total nearly 706,000 square feet and are 95 percent leased.
1.7-Acres in downtown L.A.'s Fashion District sold for $24.3 Million — labusinessjournal.com
There are plans to build a a 33-story, 452-unit residential tower on the property.
L.A. County’s $302.3 million P3 — labusinessjournal.com
The funding is for a 13-story, 468K sq. ft. of county office building in Koreatown using a public-private partnership (P3) managed by Public Facilities Group from Seattle.
Real estate leaders
Marjorie Tsang — stevefelix.blogspot.com
Steve Felix interviews Marjorie Tsang. a leader in institutional real estate and now an educator as well.
Anthony Behar interviews Tom Gilmore who is originally from New York. Tom moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and founded Gilmore Associates, a real estate development firm committed to urban revitalization and renewing the city's long neglected historic core.
Joe Fraiman & Andrew Kitchell — leadingvoicespodcast.com
Matt Slepin interviews the founders of Lyric, a highly curated version of rentals for discerning guests.
Environment and resiliency
American cities have lots of parking — usa.streetsblog.org
Parking spaces are everywhere, but for some reason the perception persists that there’s “not enough parking.” And so cities require parking in new buildings and lavishly subsidize parking garages, without ever measuring how much parking exists or how much it’s used.
Creating a new paradigm for traffic safety — ideas.stantec.com
Cities that focused on high-transit growth over the last decade experienced a 28% reduction in traffic fatalities compared to an 8% reduction in low-transit-growth cities.
Slow uptake on Bullitt Center innovations — crosscut.com
In 2013, Seattle’s Bullitt Center heralded the future in environmental engineering. By all accounts, the building succeeded on that front. But in most cities, significant barriers to replicating its success remain.
In The Poisoned City, journalist Anna Clark advances a “tragic” interpretation of how Flint, Michigan’s water supply became tainted by lead and other contaminants, emphasizing the interplay of “structural forces.” Americans have yet to reckon with what happens to basic services when a city loses more than half its population.
Around the world
Despair as bulldozers destroy hundreds of homes in Kenya — www.thisisplace.org
Nairobi's largest slum was woken on July 23, 2018, by the sounds of cranes and bulldozers that demolished hundreds of shanties overnight to make way for a road, leaving desperate residents homeless.
Housing in Tokyo is relatively affordable — www.youtube.com
New housing is tightly packed and smaller than in most North America metropolitan areas. But it is surprisingly affordable.
