Home values in 20 U.S. cities rose at a faster pace in the year ended October 2015, as lean inventories of available properties combined with steadily improving demand. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values climbed 5.5 percent from October 2014 after rising 5.4 percent in the year ended September, the group said Tuesday in New York. Nationally, prices rose 5.2 percent year-over-year. A limited supply of properties for sale has helped prop up home values, boosting ... Read more

The Federal Reserve Board’s 25-basis-point increase today will not have a significant impact on commercial real estate (“CRE”). Today’s increase could signal a slight weakening of investor demand for CRE, as lower risk investments like treasury bonds begin to look more attractive. However, other reasons suggest CRE prices and returns will continue to be attractive, even in a rising interest rate environment, including: (1) inflation, as a major driver of longer-term yields, is expected ... Read more

Rising prices... Read more

Wealth for middle-income households has remained stagnant while upper-income household wealth has doubled in real dollar terms over the past three decades, according to Pew Research data. Factoring this data, high-end retail will likely prosper as the high-end population prospers, and commodity/mass-market retail will likely languish. Retail is still a top performer though, having the highest total returns of all property types in two of the last three years, and also having led the ... Read more

San Diego County’s net growth in population from birth (approximately 24,000 in 2014) and in-migration (approximately 12,000 in 2014) will out-pace the supply of new multi-family and single-family homes over the next few years. According to the SANDAG Series 13 forecast, 3,574 single-family and 7,138 multi-family units need to be added each year, between 2012 and 2020, to meet the demand caused by this population growth. However, housing permit data reveals single-family permits average ... Read more

Scale:               1 Abysmal   2.Poor    3.Fair    4. Good    5. Excellent                                                  2015                     2016* Retail                                       3.01                      3.19 Hotels                           ... Read more

In Japan, the word for constant and never-ending improvement is kaizen. Not only is kaizen an operating philosophy for modern Japanese businesses, it’s also the age-old philosophy of the warrior class—and it has become the personal mantra of millions of successful people all over the world. Virtually all world-class achievers, in business, sports, and arts, are committed to continual improvement. They understand that in order to succeed in an ever-changing world, they must constantly ... Read more

According to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2016 survey, US residential construction starts totaled 1.2 million for June and July 2015 -- the most activity in the last 8 years. Single-family housing, rather than more apartment development, spurred this growth. Historical normalcy appears to have returned, as the inventory of finished new homes for sale now approximates 5 ½ months, and price increases have begun to reflect a shortage of supply.  While interest rates ... Read more

1. Tax-Deferred Exchanges Real estate investors can offset real estate capital gains or losses with a tax-deferred exchange. Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code allows real estate investors to sell property, take a profit, and defer capital gains or losses, as long as the proceeds are reinvested in real estate. Most real estate investors use 1031s to build long-term tax-deferred (or even tax-free) wealth. There is no limit on the number of 1031 exchanges ... Read more