COVID-19

The Light: Lack of Supply Is Pushing Rents and Home Prices

Since the middle of 2019—with one huge pause last spring—housing demand has been greatly outstripping supply. More housing (both for-rent and for-sale) will help alleviate the current environment of rapidly rising rents and home prices. We are well on our …

The Light: The Rise of the Sister Cities as an Affordability Solution

Just like little sisters steal their big sister’s clothes, sister cities across the country are stealing home buyers from their larger and nearby major metros. Many buyers and renters who will no longer be required to come to the office …

The Light: Are Big Companies Better at Hitting a Moving Target?

How do you invest in the future when revenues, expenses, and costs are swinging so wildly that it is difficult to even determine where they are today? Underwriting investments has perhaps never been harder than today because revenue and cost …

The Light: Putting Your DIY Skills to Work

The 20+ year decline in DIY activity appears to have ended. Today, DIY projects per household are 46% lower than they were in the 1990s, leaving significant room for growth. We believe a rebound is underway in DIY. COVID-19 dramatically …

The Light: Taking on the Affordability Challenge

The housing market continues to see massive price appreciation, and affordability has become a top concern among developers, builders, and home buyers. Here are some creative ways we see builders combating affordability (and succeeding!) Builders ARE finding design solutions. Creative …

The Light: Shedding Light on the Housing Supply “Shortage”

We are sending this out one day early because we planned ahead for the last 6 weeks to shut off our laptops for 4 days to give our team a much deserved break. True statements can lead to misleading conclusions, …

The Stage Is Set for a Strong 2021 in Orange County

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Orange County housing market ground to a near-halt. New home sales plummeted from more than 100 per week to just 9 net sales in the last week of March. With the economy …

The Light: Three Keys to Targeting Young Home Buyers

The largest age group in the US today is 27 to 31 years old. With the median age of an entry-level buyer at 33, according to the National Association of Realtors, we believe demographics will continue to support strong home …

The Light: Shining Light on the Bubble Discussion

In 2013, we collaborated with our clients to identify ten quantitative and ten qualitative signs of a housing bubble. Each year, we review those signs to gauge where we are in the cycle. Today, eleven of the bubble signs are …

The Light: Housing’s Future Leaders

In a time of so much uncertainty, we are grateful for our Housing’s Future Leaders. We designed this program as a learning and networking opportunity for the industry’s next generation of leaders, and since its inception, it’s grown to be so …