Why I Hate Houses
Houses suck.
Read more...Category Archives: Real estate
Softening Real Estate Markets in Prime West Coast Cities: Does China Trump IPOs?
Looking at undercurrents in West Coast economies and what they might portend for the US.
Read more...Reforestation as a Solution for Carbon Capture: Hype and Reality
Advocates for reforestation must consider who owns the land to be reforested, and how the reforestation is to be done.
Read more...Grenfell Tower Fire: A (Non-)Progress Report
Plus ça change….
Read more...New York City’s Newly Passed Green New Deal, Explained
NYC last week passed a modest Green New Deal. This initiative falls far, far short of where climate change policy needs to go, but is certainly an improvement on the fossil fuel-friendly agenda of the Trump administration (and its predecessors).
Read more...Do Real Estate Markets Make Our Cities Less Livable?
Author Samuel Stein talks about how capitalism shapes cities.
Read more...Amazon Drops New York City Headquarters Plan in a Snit
Does the testy abandonment of its New York City “HQ2” scheme mean we’ve hit Peak Amazon?
Read more...Is China’s Debt Crackdown Hitting California’s Commercial Real Estate Bubble?
China gets a cold and California real estate gets pneumonia.
Read more...Kamala Harris Tells Big Lie: That 2012 Mortgage Settlement Was a Good Deal for Homeowners
Kamala Harris’ supposed big accomplishment, of getting California a better deal in the 2012 mortgage settlement, isn’t anything to boast about.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Housing Bubble Trouble in Silicon Valley & San Francisco
Housing is going pear-shaped in California tech-land….and you can’t blame it on a tech bust.
Read more...Michael Hudson: The Vocabulary of Economic Deception
Michael Hudson gives a wide-ranging interview, discussing the importance of euphemism in obscuring power relationships and exploitation.
Read more...Short-Term Rentals and the Housing Market: Evidence from Airbnb in Los Angeles
Confirming Airbnb’s effects on rentals and home prices.
Read more...Wolf Richter: “Severe Collapse” of Home Prices Might Trigger a “Financial-Institution Crisis” in Australia: OECD Frets about the Banks
Australia looks to be on the verge of a nasty unwind of its housing bubble. A plunge would damage not only its banks but also retirement funds, since banks play an outsized role in the Australian stock market.
Read more...Don Quijones: Wall Street Mega-Landlord Blackstone Turns Screw on Spanish Government & Property Market
Blackstone is a major operator in the Spanish property market. This post discusses the Spanish government’s plans to enact modest protections for tenants by reforming rent laws. Will the government respond to tenant needs, or give way to the private equity firm’s implicit threat to reduce its Spanish property investments? Alas, it looks likely that the government will fail to deliver on its reform pledge.
Read more...When the Middle Class Lost Its Wealth
Until 2008, rising home values gave the middle class a cushion amid growing income inequality. But following the financial crisis, that wealth has failed to return.
Read more...