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Regardless of who wins the presidential election, long-term returns on commercial real estate investments aren’t expected to be affected, according to a report released Oct. 20 by real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, Commercial Observer reported. The report noted that investment returns have been positive under both Republican and Democratic administrations since the late 1970s.
Forty-eight percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 would consider moving to be surrounded by like-minded individuals if their preferred candidate loses the presidential election, according to a Realtor.com survey released Oct. 21. Across all age groups, only 20% of respondents said they’re considering such a move.
Commercial real estate prices in the U.S. ticked up 1.4% during the third quarter, but investment volume was down 57% from a year ago, according to data firm Real Capital Analytics, National Real Estate Investor reported Oct. 21. The bright spots: industrial property prices increased 7.4% annually while apartment prices grew 6.7%.
Commercial real estate investors are showing increased interest in biolab facilities, which have consistently outperformed other CRE in select markets for years and now are even more desirable because of research and development activity due to the pandemic, National Real Estate Investor reported Oct. 22. The top markets are Boston, San Francisco and San Diego.
After some initial overbuilding that put downward pressure on rents, the self-storage sector is stabilizing and occupancy and rents are slowly increasing, according to real estate firm Marcus & Millichap, National Real Estate Investor reported Oct. 22. While rents increased in August, they were still down 3% from the same point a year ago.
Residential real estate activity was strong in many Fed districts as low mortgage rates increased loan demand, but commercial activity was still mixed in many districts, ranging from steady to decreasing, the Federal Reserve reported Oct. 21 in its latest Beige Book.
Sales of existing homes in September were up 9.4% from August, and were 21% higher than at the same point a year ago, the National Association of Realtors reported Oct. 22. The median price of existing homes rose to $311,800, a 15% year-over-year increase.
Thirteen percent of homeowners believe they live in a haunted house, and more than half of them said they won’t move, according to Realtor.com’s annual Halloween survey released Oct. 24. While 62% of respondents said they wouldn’t live in a haunted house, 54% of people who do said they knew about the haunting before moving in and are OK with it.
Seattle is the top millennial market, accounting for more than 50% of the city’s renters, according to rental site RentCafé, National Real Estate Investor reported Oct.22. Other top rental markets for this demographic, which prefers to rent rather than own, include San Francisco; Austin, Texas; and Houston.
Tech giant Google announced Oct. 19 the launch of Lending DocAI, which is designed to transform unstructured datasets into accurate models to speed up loan applications, ZDNet reported. The intent is for AI models to automate routine document reviews so mortgage providers don’t have to handle them.
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