ULI Fall Meeting Takeaways

November 4, 2019 2:30 pm Published by admin

Wage growth is one of the top major factor you need to look at by geography to identify
market opportunities at this stage of the market cycle.
Occupations driving wage growth are an additional factor you need look at when
targeting markets during this stage of the market cycle.
Example City – Austin’s pop growth is 3 times higher than the national average.
Knowledge towns are a market opportunity because of the talent hubs being supported
by corporations and educational institutes, these maybe more resilient in the event of a
downturn in the future.
The broader trends are important but you really have to look more at deals on a case by
case basis than just population sizes of cities when comparing the two at that level. The
tier 1,2,3 cities have become less of a factor.
Hipsturbia – a trend of the younger generation bring their more urban interests into the
suburban community for things like breweries, vegetarian food, coffee shop, walkability,
village squares etc there a real opportunity to create urban environments in the
suburbs.

Quality of life and urbanization are the primary reasons why it has grown and expecting
continued growth.
It’s mainly millennials, remote workers and government contractors. These
communities are highly amentized. Lots of rooftop garden terraces, pools and gyms.
Several with conference rooms and one with a basketball court shared among several
buildings.
Instagram local influencer campaign was successful in getting more tenant leases

Washington’s DC Market – National factors are impacting the market similarly to the rest
of the country
Government shutdowns impact DC local real estate economy substantially.
Buyers have become more decerning. They are waiting on the right property.
Lower price points increasing at a higher rate
Luxury market starting to soften in DC $1M+
Correlation between pop growth and home prices are not very correlated
In DC, Boomers are living in their homes longer.
30% additional cost due to DC’s regulatory environment
I-Buyer Platform – Lenner taking the lead on buying homes online
Zillow Offers – Amazon is an ethos at Zillow. Ondemand services needed. 38% think
about new construction when they consider a buying a home but only 12% do
afterwards.
Lennar – trade in trade up program, rolled out open door across 20 markets
Zestimate turning into instant offer
Where are the risks?
- Low offers is an issue for builder referrals
- Realtors relationships is a struggle
Zillow would like to purchase 5,000 units per month.
Brokers are having to lower their commissions to compete with the Zillow Offers and
OpenDoor.