As cities slowly awaken from coronavirus-related lockdowns and reopen their economies, regions that rely on auto travel are leading the nascent recovery in the hospitality sector. A combination of low gas prices, concern over air travel and convenience for drivers in many markets is prompting hotel ... READ MORE >
Real estate
Miles away: U.S. airports face heavy lift and slow recovery
The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shelter-in-place protocols have devastated the airline industry. Along with it, airports across the country, rife with retail, have suffered significant losses. As cancellations of business trips and vacations mounted beginning with the onset of the outbreak in ... READ MORE >
What’s behind the resurgent housing market
With the onset of the coronavirus, a wave of uncertainty overtook the housing market and brought a swift halt to home sales and home building in March and April. But trends in May and June have shown that housing may be in the midst of a V-shaped recovery. After falling for three straight months, both ... READ MORE >
Infrastructure will remain hot, but beware of projects that could burn your bottom line
Having a large backlog of infrastructure projects is usually a good thing. But as state budgets have been roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that construction businesses review potential road, highway and civil jobs with an eye toward financial trouble spots. Bond issues around the ... READ MORE >
Home construction collapses under coronavirus lockdown
Housing starts plummeted 30.5% to an annualized rate of 891,000 in April as the full weight of the coronavirus lockdowns hit the sector, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. The plunge extended to permits to build, which dropped to an annualized rate of 1,074,000, representing a 20.8% ... READ MORE >
Is brick and mortar dead? This time, we’re talking about office buildings.
As the human toll of the coronavirus pandemic has mounted, companies have limited non-essential business travel and told employees to work from home. The effect on cities has been profound, and unsettling, with a cityscape characterized by empty office buildings, quiet streets and shuttered ... READ MORE >
A bright spot amid the economic wreckage of coronavirus: apartment rental payments
While many businesses remain closed and the country experiences record levels of unemployment, apartment owners can take some solace that tenants are still making their rent payments. On Friday, the National Multifamily Housing Council released its Rent Payment Tracker, and reported that 80.2% of ... READ MORE >
For real estate companies, the new Paycheck Protection Program funding is not a cure-all
It took about two weeks for the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, a federal aid package aimed at shoring up small and medium-size businesses, to run out of money after it was launched on April 3. Now, the Senate has approved another $310 billion for the program. The new round of financing ... READ MORE >
Existing home sales declined 8.5% in March as headwinds grew
Existing home sales fell to 5.27 million in March, down 8.5% from the 12-month high set in February of 5.76 million. While most economists expected a decline as the economic toll of the coronavirus set in, March was still a strong month. For comparison, existing home sales in March 2019 were 5.23 million ... READ MORE >
Housing market follows the severe contraction of the broader economy
The residential construction and home improvement industries, which were so promising heading into 2020, now will be among those sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus. The National Association of Home Builders’ monthly confidence index was in free fall in April, plunging 42 points month over month to ... READ MORE >