Urbanexus Update - Issue #23
Please scroll down for the weekly compilation of analysis, reporting and opinion about real estate and community development. Some links may lead to articles that are behind a paywall.
The economy and real estate
Most economic forecasts have a big blind spot
Many closely followed economic models don't consider the mounting costs of extreme weather caused by climate change, which might be accelerating faster than forecasters think.
Toll Brothers surged 14% on August 21, 2018, from a very depressed base. Other builders have been acting better than TOL on the heels of strong operating results.
Housing and community development
King County pursues modular housing for homeless in Seattle
Under the plan, the county would purchase enough modular units to house 195 people. But timely implementation depends on permitting from the City of Seattle.
Ten years after a housing collapse during the Great Recession, home values have rebounded but there are too few homes on the market. The cost of buying a home has soared far past the point of affordability for many in the market. One culprit: Home construction per household is at its lowest level since Kennedy was president. In some growing midsize cities, there are 10 times as many buyers as homes available.
One way that society has innovated--in the form of housing preferences and choices--is to create a small but fast-growing in-between category of housing options--the newly-built single-family for-rent neighborhood. Five percent of new housing starts in the USA are built to rent.
Smaller homes for empty nesters
Shea Homes now offers a product that caters to the needs of active adults looking for smaller, simpler homes that don't compromise on useable square footage or specialty features.
Airbnb has announced its second branded apartment community, a property in Nashville that will rent to both long- and short-term residents. The company also says it plans to open more such properties — as many as 14 by 2020.
Change in The Bronx — www.citylab.com
Decades after photographing its abandoned buildings and makeshift playgrounds, Camilo José Vergara sees an unmatched contrast between past and present in the economically devastated borough of New York City.
West downtown in Phoenix emerges — dtphx.org
There’s a surprising new hot spot for downtown Phoenix development.
The bipartisan cry of ‘Not in My Backyard’
Encouraging mixed-income, multifamily development as a way of making housing more affordable. But it’s a notion homeowners of all political leanings tend to oppose.
Real estate history
How did Fresno get so segregated?
More than 50 years after redlining was outlawed, the legacy of discrimination can still be seen in California’s poorest large city.
Environment
Arctic’s strongest sea ice breaks up for first time Usually frozen waters open up twice this year in phenomenon scientists described as scary
Human impact on the world's forests — www.visualcapitalist.com
Forests cover 30% of the world's land. These maps and charts show where forests are flourishing, and where human activity is chipping away at the tree line
Wellness certifications give communities a competitive edge
A new report from the Urban Land Institute looks at the business case for designing healthy buildings.
Around the world
Insufficient housing in Sao Paulo
The most populous city in South America, Sao Paulo has undergone rapid population growth as Brazilians deserted the countryside seeking work, but it has never built to keep up. Half a million families have nowhere to live, a crisis that forced some to set up home in abandoned downtown buildings, many of them fire hazards unsafe for human habitat.