Articles

A man scratches his head while facing a giant dollar bill with a downward trending arrow on it

Florida Consumer Sentiment

Confidence on Economic Conditions Remains Low The sentiment of Florida consumers remained fairly gloomy in September. That’s according to the latest survey tracking the economic outlook of Floridians conducted by the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR). The monthly index stood at 64.4 in September, down 14% from 74.9 a year [...]

A man holds a tiny twenty dollar bill

Consumers’ Finances Weakened in 2022

Consumers followed some significant ups and downs over the past three years with emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, business closures and work stoppages, government stimulus and expanded unemployment benefits, surprise housing shortages, faltering supply chains, and now 40-year high inflation. Understanding consumers’ positions is important because they account for roughly two-thirds of the U.S. gross [...]

Illustration of many buildings being built with cranes and construction vehicles with a city skyline in the background

Construction Costs

Source: BLS Producer Price Index, FRED Recession: First two quarters of 2020. Sources: CBRE Econometric Advisors, CBRE Strategic Investment Consulting Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Altis Davie, an apartment complex to be built in Davie, Florida

Collaborating with the City

The Altman Cos., a division of BBX Capital, plans to create a vibrant mixed-used apartment community with the aim to help revitalize the downtown area of Davie, Florida. Altman will build Altis Davie, an apartment complex with a retail component, on a four-acre property it controls after finalizing a purchase contract with Davie and Davie’s [...]

A triplex home in Minneapolis

Some Communities Take on Single-Family Zoning in Hopes of Spurring More Housing

A triplex built by Minneapolis homebuilder Bruce Brunner following the city’s adopting a new comprehensive plan that eliminated single-family-only neighborhoods. Just before midnight on a Thursday in August, Gainesville’s City Commission dismantled a nearly century-old cornerstone of municipal planning efforts: single-family zoning. A divided commission voted to allow duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes on land that [...]

Looking skyward at skyscrapers with chartlines overlaid

Partly Cloudy: Outlook of Real Estate Industry Leaders

Surveyed real estate industry leaders saw the skies turn gray in the most recent quarter, a period marked by rising interest rates, increasing costs and a slowing economy. The third quarter of 2022 marked the third consecutive period that the Bergstrom Real Estate Outlook Index showed a decline, and it’s the lowest rating since October [...]

Spoken Here

The Alfred A. Ring Distinguished Speaker Series brings prominent real estate professionals to campus to speak and interact with UF real estate students and faculty. Chris Corr Chris Corr shared highlights of his more than 30 years in the real estate industry, including playing a leadership role in developing Disney’s Celebration, Florida and numerous other [...]

Amazon logo lighting up a person's pointer finger with a black background

Significant Digits: August 2022

Too Much of a Good Thing Amazon has been the flag bearer for the extremely high-performing Industrial sector for the past several years. It has already been an incredibly long run for the sector and it may not be over. The warehouse market evolved over the past several years and it may continue to trade [...]

A cargo ship at sea full of shipping containers

Global Inflation

Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database as of 2022 Rising inflation expectations is not only a United States concern but one that is faced across the globe.

Aerial view of Central Park in New York City

Is Public Space the New Anchor Tenant?

Public parks improve communities’ social and physical health worldwide according to Public Parks and Wellbeing in Urban Areas of the United States by Larson and Rethinking Urban Space in Cities — A Study of Parks in Hyderabad, India by Shrinagesh and Markandey. Parks and urban trails also attract users to surrounding real estate. Park visitors [...]

Illustration of blockchain secure tokens, a city skyline, and a building hovering in a cloud

Real Estate Tokenization

Illustrations by Ben Simons. Since the early 2000s, blockchain technology has evolved into a widespread wave of innovative efforts that reached all corners of the financial industry and real estate is no exception. The traditional transfer of real property involves several key elements including title, deed, mortgage, and leases that must be organized, filed, and [...]

A building in Infinity Park, Orlando

Infinity Park: Redefining Industrial

McCraney Property Company developed Infinity Park as a Class A+ state of the art business park that combines warehouse, office, and retail uses. Located on Southpark Center Loop in Orlando, Florida, the site is incredibly accessible with access to the Florida Turnpike, Beachline Highway (SR-528), and John Young Parkway. Its buildings have all of the [...]

Modern building with a unique architectural design

Sustainable Buildings

Understanding the relationship between buildings, pollution, and climate change requires simplifying the components. The first step is to define sustainability from the investors’ perspective. To do this, we consulted environmental engineers, professors from the University of Florida’s School of Design, Construction, and Planning, and the Director of Campus Sustainability. One key takeaway is that there [...]

Florida State Capitol with the state of Florida overlayed on it and dollar signs with up and down arrows

From Sale to Assessment

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago sent the country into a recession, leaving millions of Americans unemployed. At the same time, perhaps surprisingly, it marked the beginning of a significant boom in the housing market. The median sales price of houses sold in the US went up from $330,000 in 1Q2020 to [...]

New white Volkswagen car in a showroom

Member Perspectives: August 2022

Bergstrom Survey – Early 2022 Perhaps 2022 will be the year that our market perceptions stabilize. Following a wildly uncertain 2020 and a surprisingly high-growth 2021, our survey is showing some signs of balance. We will discover over the course of the year if this is the beginning of a return to normalcy or a [...]