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. … 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 mid-March, traffic from travelers plummeted. The Transportation Safety Administration reported that throughput fell to approximately 100,000 people per day by the first week of April, down from almost 2.2 million daily a month earlier. … READ MORE >
What’s behind the resurgent housing market
With the onset of 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 midst of a V-shaped recovery. … 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 the construction businesses review potential road, highway and civil jobs with an eye toward financial trouble spots. … 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. … READ MORE >
Is brick and mortar dead? This time, we’re talking about office buildings.
As many middle market companies have shown that they can shift from a traditional brick-and-mortar setting to a virtual one, office building tenants, and landlords, are rethinking the need for offices in the future — and the related fixed costs they bring. … READ MORE >
A bright spot amid the economic wreckage of coronavirus: apartment rental payments
On Friday, the National Multifamily Housing Council released its Rent Payment Tracker, and reported that 80.2% of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment as of May 6. … READ MORE >
For real estate companies, the new Paycheck Protection Program funding is not a cure-all
The new Paycheck Protection Program will most likely face the same problem it had before: There isn’t enough money. At a burn rate that banking insiders estimate at $50 billion a day, the new Paycheck Protection Program funds are expected to be exhausted within a week. … 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. … 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. … READ MORE >