How do you reconcile the view that China is toast because of an aging population with high rates of young-people unemployment?

I don't have an American Economic Review paper. In some ways, it becomes *easier* to screen applicants that use AI to write their pitches thanks to hallucinations.

If you want to signal your ability to do high-quality research, check the AI output for factual accuracy.

Announcing the second edition of the Zurich-Oxford Symposium on Real Estate Markets. (Check out the placement of last year's participants!)

The giant void of nothingness where US financial regulation used to sit ‘There has never been a better time to be a crook’

I read "there's never been a better time to be a fraudster" -- investors will reel in a few years when the consequences hit

www.ft.com/content/b5d9...

Perhaps private-market solutions will fill the void.

Why do the hyperscalers overinvest?

Stock markets seem to react negatively to surprise capex. So, is it empire building by the corporate leaders / an agency problem? Or government pressure to compete with China?

What do you think?

Reminder that the stock market is not the economy.

When stock valuations grow faster than real economic activity, that can be because rents are redistributed to equity holders.

The reverse can be true when advances in AI benefit users while equity holders pay.

Bottom line: Remote work appears to be reshaping cities from within
Important insights for investors, planners & policymakers navigating post-pandemic office markets.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3ToE...
YouTube: youtu.be/NN3uhmBL3NI?...

#RemoteWork #UrbanEconomics
4/4

The patterns revealed are striking:
• Vacancy effects getting stronger over time (not weaker)
• Even high-quality buildings affected
• 10% drop in investment activity
• Local services lost 2.5-3% of jobs
• Supply side frozen - minimal conversions

The "flight-to-quality" hypothesis: The research suggests vacancy is concentrated in peripheral areas with large firms, while central districts may potentially benefit from this spatial reorganization.

This points to companies potentially choosing smaller but better-located premium spaces. 2/4

Ep8 of @OxfordFORE's Property Pod: What happens when entire cities go remote?

New research from Olivier Denaisgarde shows office vacancy surged 2+ percentage points in remote-work areas of Paris - but the pattern suggests spatial reorganization, not uniform decline. #RealEstate 1/4

Fertility and house prices. Do you think it's causal?

SEC.gov | Joshua T. White Named SEC Chief Economist An official website of the United States government

Fantastic news for capital markets: the SEC appointed Josh White as Chief Economist. Having hired Josh at PCAOB to help increase the rigor of the economic analysis, my experience with him is such that I think the SEC and capital markets are extremely lucky to have him. www.sec.gov/newsroom/pre...

Investors now expect a discounted stream of future cash flows of ~25,000 USD per earthling. That ratio is growing faster than GDP per capita.
Why?

Hear Camilla discuss her research on The Property Pod:
Spotify open.spotify.com/episode/7DXa...
YT www.youtube.com/watch?v=g189...

What's your take on retail tenant coordination vs. competition?

But context matters. As Camilla emphasizes, these contracts "aren't always good at every point" - her framework examines when market conditions might flip the outcome 3/4

@camillaschneier.bsky.social scraped thousands of documents from Chicago's county recorder office and found something surprising: these "retail non-compete" agreements were overall PRO-competitive. 2/4

What happens when a grocery store tells its landlord "don't rent to my competitors"? New research from Camilla Schneier reveals these exclusive dealing contracts aren't what you'd expect. #RealEstate 1/4

Vanguard, you're wasting my fees

Referees are not becoming more polite

The Proxy Advice Industry and Common Owners' Coordination High levels of common ownership may reduce firms’ incentives to compete. The empirical relevance of this concern is controversial, in part because there are no

Overlooked aspect of @ftc @afergusonftc interest in proxy advisers: coordination mechanism for common owners. ISS recommendations tend to support director interlocks, mergers, and the lessening of incentives to compete in high-CO firms

cc @matt_levine
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

How can LLMs extract property quality? What role does contract design play in addressing information problems?
Listen: open.spotify.com/episode/4fV1...
Watch: youtu.be/D31LfMYDGfQ
So Hye's website: www.sohyeyoon.com
#RealEstate #PropTech #Economics

Her research explores two approaches:
- Revenue-sharing contracts that include profit share
- AI analysis of listing descriptions for quality signals
These strategies show potential to reduce iBuyer losses.

iBuyers face two information gaps:
- Seller urgency levels (hassle costs)
- Subtle quality issues only homeowners know

Using repeat sales data, So Hye shows how these gaps create adverse selection patterns.

When Zillow shut down its iBuying program in 2021, questions arose about the viability of instant home buying.
New research from So Hye Yoon (Princeton job market candidate) examines a key challenge: information asymmetry.
Cloe Garnache hosts this episode of The Property Pod 👇

Brian notes commercial PACE has been adopted by two-thirds of U.S. states across the political spectrum.

Could this work in UK/Europe? They discuss the challenges.
#PACEFinancing #RealEstate

Cameron's Florida research finds:
20-25% home value increase from residential PACE improvements
50% reduction in insurance premiums
60% of funds go to disaster-proofing, not energy efficiency
Only 2% take-up rate: room for growth ➡️

How? PACE loan repayments run with the property like taxes, not with the owner.
When the property sells, the new owner assumes remaining payments. Tenants pay their share of the loan through the tax bill, just as they benefit from lower energy costs. ➡️

Brian explains two market failures blocking green investments:
Payback periods (15-20 yrs) often exceed property hold periods (10 yrs).
Landlords fund upgrades but tenants capture energy savings.

PACE addresses both through its structure. ➡️

Why don't landlords make green investments, even when they could boost property value?
New episode The Property Pod with Brian Lancaster & Cameron LaPoint explores PACE financing.
YT: youtu.be/-uV8MleO080
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/04gq...
➡️

PSA: if you contact me about doing research under my guidance, do some research without my guidance first.

For example, on the topic of what kind of research I could possibly provide guidance for.