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 >
Real estate
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 >
With lifeline from Paycheck Protection Program cut short, real estate turns to bankers for liquidity
The Paycheck Protection Program, a $349 billion government effort to help small and medium-size businesses weather the coronavirus pandemic, is hitting its funding limit less than two weeks after it was launched on April 3. Now, real estate companies are looking to banks and the private sector for relief. … READ MORE >
Construction sector uncertainty shows up in labor, loans and demand data
Slow and uncertain—that is the state of the construction ecosystem right now. The unstable environment for builders has resulted in huge layoffs for their workforce and a disproportionate amount of loans taken under a new SBA lending relief program. … READ MORE >
How the real estate sector can weather an economy that has all but ground to a halt
Landlords are girding for the very real prospect that the $81 billion owed to them in rent payments, according to Bloomberg, will fall far short as tenants of all kinds struggle to find the cash. … READ MORE >
Between a rock and a hard place, retailers ask to stop paying rent to survive
In a move for self-preservation, retailers are demanding that their landlords withhold or slash rent in the coming months as stores have closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. … READ MORE >