The economy continues to appear relatively robust, though there are some signs of cooling, e.g., the 07/07 jobs report reflected a slowdown in job creation from previous months. We are also seeing rental growth in our markets start to normalize – with rent increases typically more broadly in line with CPI rather than significantly leading it, as had been the case for the last couple of years.

The broader U.S. real estate market is at a turning point after more than 12 months of rate increases from the Federal Reserve. According to research from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, more than half of $2.9 trillion in commercial mortgages will need to be renegotiated in the next 24 months when new lending rates are likely to be up by 350 to 450 basis points.

2020 Census data has now been released and we wanted to highlight relevant data about the continued demographic growth in the Southeast. In this article, we will review several key statistics and how they relate to the Ballast Rock Real Estate strategies.

In this article we discuss likely U.S. economic scenarios for exiting the pandemic recession, headline vs. housing inflation, and national vs. Southeastern regional inflation, and whether multifamily real estate can be a good hedge for inflation.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced much of the global workforce to work from home, many have suddenly started to work full-time outside the protections of corporate security programs. Just as we have all become experts in social distancing and hand washing, we also need to be just as vigorous about our “cyber-hygiene”.

A number of investors have inquired about our view of the effect of this new coronavirus strain on their real estate investments, workforce multifamily specifically, and real estate in general.

In this article we will frame the stages of the business cycle, attempt to ascertain where the U.S. economy is in that cycle, and ultimately discuss things to consider when positioning one’s portfolio for late cycle investing and beyond.

At Ballast Rock Capital we believe that each investor’s goals are unique, but that there are common strategies used in a customized mix to achieve these goals. It is standard advice that by diversifying one’s portfolio across liquidity and value creation methods, while accounting for leverage and taxability, one can lower the impact of market events, and best prepare to live comfortably through retirement.