- Housing Agency Reports Record Financial Cushion as It Braces for Market Downturn “A federal housing agency on Tuesday said its financial reserves have reached record levels and that it was well positioned to weather a mortgage-market downturn. The audit, released by the Federal Housing Administration on Tuesday, likely gives officials room to trim mortgage costs over the coming months as part of a push by the administration to address housing affordability.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Nareit T-Tracker: Quarterly Operating Performance Series “Nareit’s Total REIT Industry Tracker Series – the Nareit T-Tracker– is the first quarterly performance measure of the heartbeat of the U.S. listed REIT industry. The series includes three key REIT industry measures: the Nareit FFO Tracker, which monitors equity REIT Funds From Operations; the Nareit NOI Tracker, which reports the equity REIT industry’s Net Operating Income; and the Nareit Dividend Tracker, which monitors the dividends U.S. listed equity and mortgage REITs pay to their shareholders.” (Nareit.com)
- CRE Leaders Cheer DeSantis’ Win, Push for More Action on Affordable Housing “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won a resounding re-election victory last week, which commercial real estate leaders hailed as a sign that the state will continue with its business-friendly ways. In interviews with Bisnow, industry insiders said that DeSantis' policies have been good for business, but they hope he focuses more on affordable housing in his second term than his first amid the state's ongoing affordability crisis.” (Bisnow)
- For the Lack of an Insulation Screw “Like many development projects in the pandemic, construction of the Applied Research Center at Florida Polytechnic University was burdened by delays. Skanska, the general contractor responsible for the building, struggled to find materials. But it wasn’t steel, glass or concrete that set back the completion of the 95,000-square-foot research facility in Lakeland, Fla. The problem was card readers. A global shortage of semiconductors had made security access systems impossible to get. So a team of a half-dozen supply chain specialists at Skanska had to unwind a tangle of contractors and subcontractors and persuade a manufacturer to send unfinished doors, with high-tech lock sets to follow, saving months of delays over a simple yet crucial part.” (The New York Times)
- Meta, Lyft, Salesforce and Other Tech Firms Dump Office Space as They Downsize “While leasing from all businesses declined during the pandemic, the tech sector accounted for the largest portion of the leasing that took place, according to real estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. Some tech companies, such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, continued to expand their office footprints during that period. Now, with the prospect of a recession looming and companies slashing payroll, tech firms find they have too many floors of office space and want to unload big chunks of it.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Trump Family Signs Deal with Saudi Real Estate Developer “The Trump family has struck a deal with a Saudi-based real estate company to license its name to a housing and golf complex that will be built in Oman, renewing a swirl of questions about former President Donald J. Trump’s mixing of politics and business just as he appears poised to announce a third presidential candidacy. News of the deal, the first such international marketing agreement the Trump Organization has negotiated since Mr. Trump left the White House, emerged as the former president already faces a string of investigations into his business.” (The New York Times)
- Proptech Job Cuts Not a Reality—Right Now “Even as the reverberations from a landslide of Big Tech layoffs crash down on Silicon Valley (and Alley), real estate’s proptech sector is reluctant to admit that it will suffer a similar fate. Some proptech industry principals asked earlier this month about the state of company hirings and firings pushed back strongly on the idea that real estate technology startups will suffer a similar fate to tech giants Meta, Salesforce, Booking.com, Twitter and Lyft, among others making mega-cutbacks.” (Commercial Observer)
- Malls Have Transformed Themselves into Mixed-Use Lifestyle Centers “Over the past few years, lifestyle centers have popped up around the country -- in turn attracting shopping and entertainment tenants.” (Modern Retail)
- How Chase Plans to Revolutionize Rent Payments with a Digital Solution “In October 2022, Chase released a beta version of ‘Story,’ a digital real estate management platform for multifamily property owners. Aimed towards providing more value for its 33,000 multifamily clients with $95.2 billion in outstanding loans, Story offers an integrated suite of solutions to simplify and streamline portfolio management with access to a digital rent payment solution, along with data and market resources.” (The Financial Brand)
- CRE ‘Overpaying’ to Send Waste to Landfills “A study be Great Forest Inc., a leader in sustainable waste management consulting, assessed data collected through waste audits at over 100 buildings across the US and internationally, analyzing over 170,000 pounds of waste. It found that overall, with waste costs rising and waste reduction identified as central to a circular economy, businesses must understand the waste they are generating, Anna Dengler, senior sustainability advisor, Great Forest, and lead author of the report, said in prepared remarks. ‘The numbers do not lie,’ Dengler said. ‘The study shows that 62% of what most commercial buildings discard in the trash stream is divertible.’” (GlobeSt.com)
- REITs Focus on Supplier Diversity “REITs are exploring and implementing strategies, processes, and tools that can both move the lever on increasing their supplier diversity and have a meaningful impact on the communities they serve. Supplier diversity has become a bigger focus in light of growing attention to social and economic inequalities. Other factors fueling that momentum include an increased focus on ESG matters, pressure from stakeholders, and the need to improve business resilience and drive better outcomes in the wake of supply chain disruption.” (reit.com)
- Sally Beauty Closing Hundreds of Stores “Sally Beauty Holdings is accelerating its store optimization plans. The company said it plans to close approximately 350 stores during December 2022 amid ongoing efforts to improve its profitability. Most of the store closings will be in the United States. (The retailer currently operates more than 5,000 stores worldwide, with approximately 4,500 in North America.)” (Chain Store Age)
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