UCLA Real Estate Wire

Curbed LA: "A ‘romantic,’ sustainable vision for housing in Palm Springs"

“We have a lot of land uses that are generally low density and don’t take advantage of infill,” says Paul Habibi, a real estate entrepreneur and UCLA professor. “Golf courses are a great example of that pattern. Agrihoods resurface that low-density, less-sustainable model, and instead create something with a triple-bottom line return: developers do well, and the new neighborhoods have both social and sustainable impact.” People care about their food and authenticity, and the trend is here to stay, says Habibi. The Global Wellness Institute found the so-called “wellness real estate industry” to be a $134 billion global industryin 2017, with 740 projects built or in-development in 34 countries."

[CLA: 2/14/18]

Business Insider: "Rich millenials are ditching the golf communities of their parents for a new kind of neighborhood"

"Paul Habibi, a professor of real estate at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, told The Orange County Register that agrihoods represented a "confluence of economic profits, environmental good, and social benefit" — an especially attractive offer to millennials. "They actually want a benefit to society," Habibi said."

[BI: 10/30/17]

The Orange County Register: "There goes the ‘agri-hood'"

“It’s a concept whose time has come,” said Paul Habibi, professor of real estate at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. “We’re increasingly looking to sustainability as an important objective in real estate development.”

[OCR: 10/22/17]

Wall Street Journal: "Los Angeles Builders Say New Affordable-Housing Rules Will Stifle Construction"

“It’s already a lot of brain damage and work for a project to go through in L.A.,” said Paul Habibi, a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management who also develops and invests in apartments in the city. “It’s really only going to stifle the number of housing units built.”

[WSJ 11/17/16]

The Wall Street Journal: "The Rise of the Mercenary Real-Estate Agent"

"In time, most of the big deals will be driven by brokers, not their brokerages, said Paul Habibi, a professor at the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The brand used to belong to the agency—now it belongs to the agent,” he said..."

[WSJ 10/7/15]

Bisnow: "3 Biggest Ways To Boost Affordable Housing In LA"

"LA, like much of the nation, is struggling with affordable housing. To afford the purchase of a median-priced home in LA, the average household would require a 53% raise, according to Paul Habibi, a professor at UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, who says this situation threatens the economic vitality of the entire state. Here are three ways he says we can help..."

[Bisnow 8/13/15]

The Architect's Newspaper: "Into the Current"

"News that Gehry Partners is at work on a new master plan of the Los Angeles River took Angelenos by surprise late last week. While some had heard rumors for weeks, others were caught off guard by the somewhat strange combination. As the few details of the arrangement between Gehry and his team, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, and the nonprofit L.A. River Revitalization Corp. came in, fresh questions arouse: Why such a “cone of silence” around the partnership (as one well-known local landscape architect put it)? And how might this new plan impact hard-won funding and approvals from the Army Corps of Engineers for Alternative 20? And of course: How could the mayor compare the famed architect to legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted? AN reached out to local designers and developers for comment...

"Paul Habibi, Faculty at the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, Habibi penned the report LA’s Next Frontier: Capturing Opportunities for New Housing, Economic Growth, and Sustainable Development in LA River Communities, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles Business Council Institute. The report links revitalization efforts with building sustainable and equitable communities.

'“There has been a lot of anxiety about the announcement because it seems like a top-down approach. This was not your traditional RFP where constituencies get to weigh in. The LA River, however, is already a patchwork of different initiatives. This just adds to the tapestry of many players. The thing that makes it so interesting is the thing that makes it so hard to coordinate. The river is 51 miles long; it snakes through different neighborhoods and council areas. There’s not a lot of homogeneity on plans, initiatives, and government agencies. In terms of development and architecture, my gut sense it that this is additive. Regardless of the process, if you look at it holistically, Gehry’s involvement has a gravitational pull to other developers.”'

[AN 8/12/15]

LA Times Op-Ed: "Easing LA's Housing Crunch"

"Los Angeles is stuck in a housing crisis with little hope for an easy escape. The standard definition of “affordable” is shelter that costs no more than 30% of a household's gross income; anything higher cuts severely into other types of consumption. Using that metric, to afford the median-priced home, the median household would require a staggering 52% raise, to $96,000 a year from $63,000. A more modest 14% raise would enable that family to rent the median-priced apartment. With housing costs rising faster than incomes, we are likely to retain our title as the least affordable city in the United States for years to come..."

[LA Times Opinion/Op-Ed 8/10/15]

Which Way LA: "Building Along LA River Spurs Gentrification Fears"

"The move to restore the Los Angeles River is living up to the best of expectations — with camp-outs, pop-up picnics and performances of live music. But when that kind of cultural energy appears, developers are never far behind and, sure enough, there are now fears of gentrification. Will current residents be priced out of a hip neighborhood that's downtown adjacent?..."

[Which Way LA 8/4/15]

LA Times: "Southern California Home Sales Soar in June; Prices Climb 5.7%"

"The Southern California housing market, known for its dramatic swings, is settling into a more normal, healthy pattern. Home sales are up. All-cash and investor purchases are down. And home prices are rising at a more sustainable pace than in the last few years. Economists said those factors put the regional housing market on a path for growth that won't wash away in a tsunami of foreclosures and ruined credit scores. “The healing continues,” said Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA's Ziman Center for Real Estate..."

[LA Times 7/16/15]