Urbanexus Update - Issue #59
Please scroll down for the weekly compilation of analysis, reporting and opinion about real estate and community development. Some links may lead to material that is behind a paywall.
The economy in the USA
A real estate slowdown in 2021?
Real estate economists continue to have a positive outlook for the U.S. economy, capital markets, and real estate fundamentals through 2021. Since the previous forecast six months ago, the United States and the world have been buffeted by trade disputes and increased tariffs, stock market volatility, and reduced global growth prospects. But these events have had little or no impact on medium-term economic and real estate market expectations. Although key real estate metrics such as rent growth and returns are expected to moderate, the surveyed economists predict no major disruption to the current real estate expansion.
Retail
Sears closing its store of the future
Sears is shutting down a test store in Oak Brook, Illinois, just six months after celebrating its grand reopening.
Residential
US housing prices up, but not everywhere
The national median home listing price set a record of $310,000 in April -- surpassing March's high of $300,000, according to realtor.com®'s April 2019 monthly housing trend report released Wednesday. At the same time, demand for U.S. housing is cooling heading into spring as newly listed homes and national inventory grew, primarily driven by a combination of more owners listing homes and softening buyer demand.
A quick way to learn about missing middle housing The "Missing Middle" is a range of multi-unit or clustered housing types compatible in scale with single-family homes. Missing Middle housing has the benefit of meeting the growing demand for walkable urban living. This course presents the issues facing communities across the country, describes Missing Middle housing types, explains how to integrate the Missing Middle within communities and plans, and provides case studies and resources.
Manufactured housing communities Need for affordable housing and an aging population generate strong demand in manufactured home communities. Vacancy in all regions remains at a 10-year low, with the West maintaining the tightest rate at 5.1 percent.
A big loan to build Brooklyn’s tallest building
A pair of real estate lenders provided a $664.1 million construction loan that will allow JDS Development Group to build the tallest building in Brooklyn. Situated in the borough’s downtown district, the tower will rise 1,066 feet and will include 425 rental apartments, 150 for-sale condominiums and 120,000 square feet of retail space.
Metropolitan areas
Metro areas differ in attracting talent — marketurbanismreport.com
While coastal cites attract talent from around the nation and world, Midwestern cities remain relatively parochial.
Transportation
Lost opportunities in Los Angeles
Low fares and more bus service, rather than urban rail, is the key to improving transit ridership in Los Angeles. That conclusion can be easily drawn from the work of transportation consultant Thomas A. Rubin and Professor James E. Moore II in their series on transit in Los Angeles. This article covers Improving Bus Service and Reducing Fares have Greatly Increased Transit Use in Los Angeles as part of a series entitled A Critical Review of Los Angeles Metro’s 28 by 2028 Plan being published by the Reason Foundation and its earlier installments were covered in a previous New Geography article.
Viewing data
Five most significant data visualizations of all time
Data visualization allows us all to see and understand our data more deeply. That understanding breeds good decisions. Without data visualization and data analysis, we are all more prone to misunderstandings and missed opportunities. This visual presentation will show show you 5 powerful, beautiful visualizations that changes how people thought about the world.
Environment and resiliency
According to the Net Zero Energy Coalition, growth of ZE (Zero Energy) home construction was 75% higher in 2017 than in 2016. While California represents approximately half of all net zero energy homes built in the US, growth is occurring across the country, including Massachusetts, which has a similar top-down approach to the construction process, putting this state in second place in the inventory of zero ready (ZR), near zero (NZ), and ZE inventory
Around the world
Ethiopian residents fear evictions from satellite towns — www.thisisplace.org
Last month, local officials strolled through a neighborhood on the fringes of Sululta, several kilometers north of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Flanked by policemen, they daubed red crosses on homes and pinned notices on doors. The notices ordered residents whose houses had been built without official permits to demolish them within seven days. Those who refused would be taken to court, the notice said. There would be no compensation.