Category Archives: Real Estate

Can Skyscrapers Predict Economic Turmoil?

Very interesting video. We are not sure about the Skyscraper Index because the current economic situation is so unique.   We do suspect unless a COVID vaccine hits the market soon, the work from home/exit to the ‘burbs transition will accelerate … Continue reading

Posted in Real Estate, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

COTD: The REIT Beat

COTD: Chart of the Day Interesting chart of the relative performance of the various  REIT sectors.  Our wild ass guess (WAG) is that commercial is still a sell. We think the COVID crisis will be remembered, among other things, as … Continue reading

Posted in Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tagged | 4 Comments

Watch This [WeWork] Space

15 Oct – 08:14:04 PM [RTRS] (9984.T) – WITHOUT ADDITIONAL FUNDING, WEWORK IS POISED TO RUN OUT OF CASH BY MID-NOVEMBER – CNBC — Alastair (@StockBoardAsset) October 16, 2019 A very smart friend of mine thinks WeWork could be the … Continue reading

Posted in Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Merkel Fails To Form Government

After almost two months since the September 24th general election German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her alliance of Christian Democratic Union and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union has been unsuccessful in forming a new coalition government. Merkel needed the support of the … Continue reading

Posted in Germany, Politics, Real Estate, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

QOTD: Tokyo’s Real Estate Bubble of the 1980’s

Nice follow-up quote from our last post on federal land holdings and assets.  U.S. government praying for a land bubble?  Just yanking your Markov chain. At the peak of the real estate bubble in the late 1980s, the 1.32 square … Continue reading

Posted in Japan, Real Estate | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Protests as Shanghai Property Values Plunge

(click here if video is not observable)

Posted in China, Real Estate | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Disintermediation in China’s Banking System

The consequences of negative real interest rates and financial repression.   We know how this story ends.   Keep this one on your radar. (click here if video is not observable)

Posted in Black Swan Watch, China, Credit, Inflation/Deflation, Monetary Policy, Real Estate | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Real Gas Prices Approaching 1918 Peak

Yes, 1918!  This is one incredible chart from the American Petroleum Institute illustrating the secular decline in real gas prices for the past century with episodes of periodic price spikes, which lasted a decade or so. So what was it … Continue reading

Posted in BRICs, Charts, China, Commodities, Crude Oil, Monetary Policy, Real Estate | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

America’s FIRE Economy

We suspect you’ve seen a version of the following chart, which illustrates the secular decline in manufacturing and the rise of finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) in proportion to U.S. GDP.   We’ve added a few years to the data … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, General Interest, Real Estate | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Farmland Prices Surge 16%, Near All-Time High

The Des Moines Register reports the average price for an acre of Iowa farmland increased to $5,064, up 16 percent for the year,  according to Iowa State University’s annual survey.  The all-time inflation adjusted high is $5,711 per acre in … Continue reading

Posted in Commodities, Real Estate | Tagged , | Leave a comment