The construction of Odyssey by Solutra in Fort Myers is a neighborhood of tightly spaced small homes for rent

Horizontal Apartments in Fort Myers: Odyssey by Solutra

Completed in the summer of 2022, Odyssey by Solutra in Fort Myers is the first of eight build-to-rent communities financed by Halstatt Real Estate Partners to meet a growing demand for detached rental units. Danville Leadbetter of Naples-based Soltura Development, Halstatt’s partner, said it’s taken some time to learn how to market these small rental [...]

The letters ESG overlaid on an illustration of people doing various tasks and interacting with various objects

Keeping the ESG Score for Investors

Environmental regulations, societal expectations and political pressures are arguably impacting commercial real estate like never before. The Paris Accord international climate treaty and a 2019 New York law that regulates the energy efficiency of buildings are just two examples of how environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are increasingly influencing the real estate market. Wall [...]

Lee County's post-Hurricane Ian destruction

An Island unto Itself

Florida stands out in many ways. The peninsula has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, the world’s largest amusement park and one of the biggest wetlands anywhere. Also, Florida is the nation’s fastest growing, with about 320,000 people moving to the Sunshine State in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Photo above: [...]

A for sale by owner sign in front of a residence

Do Real Estate Agents Provide Value?

As far as professionals are concerned, real estate agents have had a remarkable history. Despite being a major part of one of the nation’s largest industries, constant economic, legislative, and technological changes, licensed real estate agents have managed to maintain a fairly constant industry structure related to their services. In a day and age when [...]

Inside a new construction project using a lot of wood for floors, ceilings and walls

Mass Timber Primed for Wider Use?

Despite obstacles, the innovative building material is used in a growing number of projects The father-and-son team Thomas and Keith Kovatch weren’t planning to be pioneers when they decided to construct an office building in Central Florida. Then they received a random email about a seminar on an innovative building technique known as “mass timber,” [...]

An aerial view of a neighborhood construction project

Looking at the Big Picture: Housing Affordability

Housing affordability has been a growing concern in the United States in recent years, particularly given the spike in mortgage rates and surge in home sales prices in 2022. A worsening housing supply shortage and wage stagnation are commonly cited as among the main factors for the affordability issue. We analyzed the long-term trends in [...]

Marshall Place mall housing Hobby Lobby, Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Burkes, Boot Barn, Panola College, and others

Repositioning a Texas Mall: Marshall Place

Marshall Mall could serve as an example of the fate of U.S. shopping malls, which have swung high and low since their heyday. Built in 1980, the mall is the first and only mall in the small town of Marshall, Texas. But in time its original developer faltered, and the mall ended up in foreclosure. [...]

Aerial view of a neighborhood with tightly spaced houses

Affordable Housing Challenge

The solution is building more supply. But that is not so simple. The news reports are hard to ignore – and seem to come from all parts of the country. “The United States is facing an affordable housing crisis,” wrote Curbed, an online news site that covers U.S. real estate. “Florida is in the throes [...]

Aftermath of the Champlain Tower collapse shows levels of the building exposed with personal property mixed among the debris

Florida Condominium Market Shows Little Impact Since 2021 Condo Collapse

In the early morning of June 24, 2021, the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, suddenly collapsed, killing 98 people. The failure of the 40-year-old condo building immediately generated worldwide attention — and raised questions about the safety of numerous high-rise condo buildings in South Florida and throughout the state. What caused the sudden [...]

An apartment building with palm trees beside it

Debate over rent controls heats up in Florida

Florida has emerged as a surprising battleground over rent control this year as local governments look for ways to manage escalating housing costs. Elected officials in a handful of cities and counties across the Sunshine State have seriously debated the controversial issue in response to increasing demands from residents who face some of the steepest [...]

A graphic with column charts and an upward trending line with an arrow and a house sitting on it

Housing: A Lagging Indicator in CPI’s Marketbasket

You don’t need to be an economist to know that prices for just about everything have soared in the past year. The consumer price index for all urban consumers increased 8.3% in the year ending in August, nearly its highest level in the last 40 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Interestingly, [...]

Aerial view of a large city sprawling to the horizon with location marker overlaid and lines connecting them

Mobile Location Data is Reshaping Commercial Real Estate

It was not that long ago that commercial real estate professionals would draw circles on road maps to help pinpoint the best place to locate a business. These concentric rings might show the one- to five-mile radius from a given piece of property — and served as a starting place to help clients select a [...]

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 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 [...]