I’m not an economist, nor am I an expert on China, but according to this recent FT article, more than half of the country’s largest developers (based on 2020 sales) are now in default: On top of this, there’s a lot currently in the pipeline:… Read More
In may ways, this recent article by Brian Potter about how fast cities can grow, feels intuitive: Small cities tend to grow faster than big cities (on a percentage basis) and, as cities get bigger, their growth rates tend to decline. It is, however, still… Read More
Oftentimes when I think about Los Angeles, I think about the fact that you generally have to drive everywhere. And since I have a personal preference for dense and walkable cities, this thought helps me feel slightly less envious about their perfect weather. Los Angeles… Read More
There was once a time — generally in the early 20th century — when some people used to order their new home from a catalogue. You would pick the model you wanted and then all of the required materials, along with assembly instructions, would get… Read More
Brian Potter, of Construction Physics, recently tried to determine which cities build skyscrapers the fastest. Here’s how he went about that: Here are the results: And here’s one thing he had to say about them: Interestingly enough, the huge outlier in slow construction isn’t the… Read More
If you’re working on a development pro forma and trying to figure out what construction costs might be at some point in the future, the surest bet is to assume that they will be more than they are today and that they will grow at… Read More
In 1973, 580,000 mobile homes (or manufactured home as they are now called) shipped in the United States. This represented about 50% of the number of single-family housing starts that year, and about 22% of total housing starts. So they represented a significant chunk of… Read More
Housing supply is one of those topics that a lot of people can’t seem to agree on. Some people, including annoying city bloggers from Toronto, will tell you that we’re not building nearly enough new housing. While others will tell you that, no, everything is… Read More
Some people like to refer to concrete as cement. But that is technically incorrect. Cement is just one of the main ingredients in concrete, along with water and aggregates. So it’s a bit like referring to a beer as a bottle of yeast. That said,… Read More
We are living through an inflationary hard cost environment. In speaking with one of our cost consultants the other week, he was predicting that overall we could see another 9-10% increase next year here in the Toronto area. Now, who knows what will ultimately happen.… Read More
BRANDON DONNELLY 