Calvin Schnure

E-commerce surged in the spring, but stores are reopening and curbside pickup is a popular hybrid of online shopping and bricks-and-mortar delivery. Many shoppers enjoy the retail experience and still prefer to check the size, fit, and appearance at a bricks & mortar store.

This was the second week of rising share prices, after four straight weeks edging lower through September.

The next few years will almost certainly see a move towards less density, and it is unclear how much overall demand for office space will decline due to WFH if there is an offsetting increase in the space per worker.

REITs rallied last week, with the FTSE-Nareit All Equity REITs index posting a total return of 5.5%, trimming the year-to-date decline in total returns to the single digits.

REITs have been little affected by the turmoil in the broader stock market in recent weeks, especially among technology stocks.

Since most economic activity takes place within a commercial real estate structure, these changes will impact how people use commercial real estate in the future.

The FTSE Nareit All Equity index had a total return of negative 2.2% for the week, and is down 2.0% so far in September.

The FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs index was down 0.7% last week, while tech stocks pulled major indices much lower, with the Nasdaq down 3.3% and the S&P 500 falling 2.3%.

The CMBS delinquency rate continued to decline in August as the reopening of the economy helped revive cash flows at some troubled tenants.

Valuations in the overall market have edged down 1.4% over the past three months, and are little changed year-to-date.

Last week’s gains trimmed the declines so far this year to single digits, bringing the year-to-date total return to -9.0%

Nearly every recent housing market indicator has shown significant increases for July, and were above consensus expectations.