UCLA Real Estate Wire

Barron's: "Coronavirus Has Upended the Real Estate Market. What It Could Mean for the Value of Your Home."

“'Foreclosure clusters can drive down neighborhood property values, and in and of themselves create additional rounds of foreclosures,' says Stuart Gabriel, professor of finance and director of the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA. He studied the impact of a six-month foreclosure moratorium in California during the housing crash and concluded that the experiment was effective. 'It gave the market a timeout, and then a time to get to a better place,' he says."

[Barron's: 5/11/2020]

Archinect News: "A sculptural Downtown Los Angeles tower forges ahead"

"Despite the crashing economy, anticipated demand for new residential units 'at all price points' will remain strong due to overall low supply, Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate tells The Los Angeles Times."

[AN: 4/14/2020]

Los Angeles Times: "Skyscraper with condos and a hotel proposed for downtown Los Angeles"

"Housing development in L.A. has practically stopped during the pandemic, said Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate. 'We are in desperate need of new supply at all price points.'

There is some risk, however, to urban high-rise development at a time when the pandemic is causing some people to consider living in less densely populated suburban neighborhoods instead of urban centers, Gabriel said."

[LAT: 4/10/2020]

The Real Deal: "Coronavirus pandemic could upend LA’s incredibly tight housing market"

"Experts aren’t optimistic, according to Curbed.

'It will not be a pretty picture over the next few months,' wrote UCLA Senior Economist David Shulman in a recently published economic analysis.

'Housing activity is being pressured by the weak economic environment and the unwillingness of consumers to visit new developments,' Shulman said. 'Further, it is likely that realtors will call off open houses. If that is not enough, deal making will slow down because of the reduction in face-to-face contacts.'”

[TRD: 3/19/2020]

Los Angeles Times: "L.A. moratorium on business evictions could squeeze landlords"

"Similar deals were cut in previous economic recessions, but the coronavirus-related business lockdown presents an unprecedented challenge, said Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate.

'Clearly we are confronting something we have never known in our lifetime,' Gabriel said. 'There is going to be carnage all over the economy.'

A moratorium on residential foreclosures during the 2008 financial crisis was a balm for the reeling California economy, he said."

[LAT: 3/18/2020]

Los Angeles Times: "Southern California home buying hasn’t been slammed by coronavirus fear — yet"

" 'It’s kind of a tug of war: interest rates on the one side and some of the business fundamentals on the other side,' said Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA. 'How we are going to sort of muscle through this depends very significantly on the path of the virus, the severity of the incidents and the related cycle.' "

[LAT: 3/13/2020]

Urban Land Institute: "Land-Use Solutions to L.A.’s Homeless Crisis"

"Tim Kawahara, Executive Director, UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, introduced this panel with an anecdote about demonstrating how difficult it is to get “buy-in” for increased density from neighborhood groups: The Westside Pavilion is becoming a huge Google job center. It is two blocks from the Expo Line. “This is the exact area that should be upzoned,” he said."

[ULI: 3/11/2020]

The Orange County Register: "South Coast Plaza closing for 2 weeks after store employee tests positive for coronavirus"

"Statewide, the shutdowns will be part of the business fallout that will force the state economy in recession, UCLA forecasts. Economist Jerry Nickelsburg estimates the viral damage to merchants will add up to 66,000 retail and wholesale workers losing their jobs this year as taxable sales fall 3.4%, after inflation."

[OCR: 3/16/2020] 

Los Angeles Business Journal: "Crossing Over: Coworking companies respond to the growing demand for social elements"

"Not everybody supports the trend, though. Eric Sussman, a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, said amenities such as full bars and restaurants can generate noise, making it more difficult to work. That could turn off some potential members." 

[LABJ: 1/31/2020]

Washington Post: Are transit-oriented developments the answer to the affordable housing shortage"

"Paul Habibi, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles’s Ziman Center for Real Estate, said there is a shortage of 500,000 affordable units in Los Angeles, which TODs can help address.

" 'There’s a widespread belief that the affordability problem needs to be solved from the supply side,” Habibi said. 'Density is one mechanism by which to have that happen, because developers can increase the number of units in any given community.'

"He added that reducing parking requirements is key because parking can add $100,000 to the cost of building a typical condo, which is then passed on to the resident."

[WP: 11/21/2019]