Though the end of the pandemic may seem in sight, many questions remain regarding which trends of the past year are permanent. Edward Glaeser and Richard Florida join Richard Peiser and Richard K. Green to confer on the potential outcomes for land use in the US.

While both Glaeser and Florida agree that cities at large will return to full strength and influence, they also see individual cities as vulnerable. Regarding office work, Glaeser cites studies that indicate maintaining office culture via remote channels performs well, but growing a company remotely brings significant challenges for both management and employee advancement. Florida sees shifts towards remote and remote-flexible work as a potential revolution in the real estate industry, particularly as amenity-rich smaller cities have an opportunity to build hubs using compact urban models similar to the 15-minute city.

Listen via podcast

Brad Hargreaves joins Richard Green to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted product typologies of co-living and the role tech plays in managing multifamily properties. 

As it varies across the industry, Hargreaves lays out Common’s definition of co-living that distinguishes itself from visions of student housing or roommate matching and management. While co-living makes up a portion of Common’s management portfolio, Hargreaves sees the lowest hanging fruit for most property managers as basic tech upgrades to increase efficiency and centralize efforts like sales, marketing, and leasing to better and more quickly serve tenants. Green fields questions on which cities seem to be making big wins from the increased adoption of remote work, how renters making choices virtually will persist after the pandemic subsides, and what co-living financing really looks like to lenders and borrowers.

Listen via podcast

William A. Witte and Nadine Watt join Richard Green, to discuss their perspective on the broad trends and challenges facing real estate and urban economics in 2021. The leadership offers viewpoints on California outmigration, how rents are changing in unexpected ways as consumers respond to COVID, and the potential growth (and pitfalls) that remain for Southern California infrastructure. The Lusk Chair and Vice Chair insist that capital availability continues, meanwhile the industry as a whole continues to maintain a “wait and see” strategy to accurately assess how COVID and consumer trends have impacted product types and financial feasibility in the long term.

Listen via podcast