
Harold Willig
- Sep 19, 2020
New Report Shows Some Cities Seeing Rental Price Hikes
All is not doom and gloom in the apartment rental market. While a number of large cities experienced falling rents, others continued to see rising ones, particularly in areas with high demand. During the second quarter, cities that were deemed Covid-19 hotspots, saw a decline in rents; yet others, despite high rates of infection and deaths, saw rents increase. Between April and June 2020, rents were down in Los Angeles by 5.42%, Miami by 3.97%, Seattle by 2.33% and Houston by

Harold Willig
- Sep 18, 2020
COVID-19 Slows Apartment Construction by 12%
According to RENTcafe Blog, construction bans and crew shortages that came with COVID-19 have cut apartment construction by 12% this year. 283,000 new apartment units expected to hit the market this year, down from 321,000 in 2019. which is much less than a peak in 2018, said the report. While most U.S. metro areas will see construction slowing, there are some cities that are doing much better; three of them are in Texas: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin. The biggest dec

Harold Willig
- Sep 12, 2020
Trump Administration EvictionPlan Has a Big Catch
The Trump administration announced a moratorium on most residential evictions through the end of the year effective Sept. 4 as the pandemic still rages across the country. The order, made public by the Centers for Disease Control, will prevent landlords from evicting most tenants through December. But renters who take advantage of this new eviction moratorium could wind up owing months of back rent starting in January. Renters will be responsible for paying back the delayed r

Harold Willig
- Sep 11, 2020
Prospects Uncertain for Multifamily Units During Economic Comeback
According to Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) Group, the U.S. economy is poised for a comeback in Q3, but big job losses and shrinking city and state budgets could hamper multifamily development. Existing single-family home sales increased by 20.7 percent in June to 4.72 million annualized units while new home sales rose 13.8. However, despite the good news on from the housing market, multifamily starts jumped 17.5 percent in June. It sounds good, but Fannie M

Harold Willig
- Sep 5, 2020
Industrial Spaces Are Booming in Chicago
E-commerce is booming and so demand for industrial distribution space is booming as well. Chicago’s projected to add up to 220 million square feet of product by year-end 2025, according to CBRE. That would bring the region’s industrial market up to 1.5 billion square feet. CBRE Research says that each $1.0 billion in additional e-commerce sales creates 1.25 million square feet of additional warehouse demand nationally. Amazon may be the biggest player now, but other companies

Harold Willig
- Sep 4, 2020
Amazon Becomes Chicago’s Biggest Growth Engine
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Amazon has emerged as Chicago’s biggest growth engine this year. Their timing is perfect. Beset by the pandemic that has destroyed many local businesses and put thousands of people out of work, Chicago needed a major economic boost. Now Amazon has provided it. Local unemployment in Chicagoland exceeds 15 percent, so Amazon's timing couldn't be better for people looking for jobs. "A year ago, they would have had a hard time finding that labor," says Craig