Real Estate

💥 New homes are now CHEAPER than resale homes 💥   This marks a significant inflection point in the housing market, reversing the historical trend where new construction commanded a premium—often as much as 20% more than existing properties. The shift, which began during the pandemic with a narrowing of the price spread, has fully materialized over the past three months.   While new home prices can be influenced by changes in product offerings or location, our Zonda data, builder survey, and NewHomeSource.com trends all confirm that real price cuts are also occurring in the new home space.   Beyond the raw data, several additional factors make new homes even more compelling for buyers: - Lower insurance premiums. New homes typically incur lower insurance costs compared to existing properties due to modern building codes and materials. - Reduced maintenance. New construction offers a maintenance-free or lower-maintenance lifestyle, saving homeowners time and money on immediate repairs and upgrades compared to the resale market. - Enhanced energy efficiency. New homes are often more energy-efficient than existing homes, leading to lower utility bills and a reduced overall cost of living. - Attractive builder incentives. Builders continue to offer incentives (e.g. buydowns or design credits), providing extra perks to buyers that can further offset costs. Zonda Sarah Bonnarens Alexander Edelman Tim Sullivan Bryan Glasshagel Evan F. #housing #realestate #newhomes

Every time a card payment is processed, 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 main types of fees are involved. Here’s a simple breakdown of the Three Core Fees: 1️⃣ Interchange Fee This is paid by your acquiring bank (or payment processor) to the cardholder’s bank (the issuer). It’s set by the card networks (like Visa and Mastercard; sometimes regulated), and is designed to cover things like fraud, credit losses, and infrastructure costs. 2️⃣ Scheme Fee Charged by the card networks themselves, this fee covers the operation of the payment system (“rails” that process the transaction). 3️⃣ Acquirer Markup This is the fee your acquirer or payment service provider (PSP) charges you, the merchant. It includes their costs, risk management, and profit margin for processing and settling the payment. The total cost a merchant pays is called the Merchant Service Charge, which is the sum of these three components. The Main Pricing Models: ► Bundled Pricing All fees are grouped into one flat rate. This is very common with small businesses. It’s easy to understand but doesn’t provide insight into what you’re actually paying for. ► Interchange+ The interchange fee and the acquirer’s fee are shown separately, but the scheme fee is typically bundled with the markup. This model offers some transparency. ► Interchange++ Each fee—the interchange, scheme, and acquirer markup—is itemized separately. This is the most transparent model and is favored by larger or multi-country merchants who want to track costs precisely. Who Chooses the Pricing Model? Most acquirers and PSPs decide what pricing model you’re offered. Unless you negotiate or have significant transaction volume, you’re likely to get bundled pricing by default. Larger or more experienced merchants who understand payments often push for Interchange++ for its clarity and fairness. Smaller merchants often aren’t aware that alternatives exist or find it difficult to compare offers. How Interchange Fees Vary Globally: Some regions (like the EU, UK, China, and Brazil) cap interchange fees to lower costs for merchants and stimulate competition. The US regulates only part of the system—such as capping debit card fees for large banks (the Durbin Amendment)—while credit card interchange remains uncapped and usually higher. Other countries, like India and Brazil, regulate interchange as part of broader financial inclusion goals. In markets with stricter regulation, merchants often benefit from lower, more predictable fees, making it easier to accept cards. Where fees are higher and less regulated, issuers can offer consumers more rewards (like cashback), but those costs are passed back to merchants—and sometimes their customers. Every model shifts the balance of costs and benefits between banks, merchants, and consumers in different ways. More info below👇, and I highly recommend reading my complete deep dive article about Interchange Fee and what factors impact the rate: https://bit.ly/44T4VJA

Over the last year, nearly every FMCG executive I’ve spoken to whether sitting in Chicago, Paris, or São Paulo has echoed the same challenge: “We need to get closer to the consumer, faster.” Global brand, local nuance the future of FMCG growth depends on how well your leadership understands the street, not just the spreadsheet. It’s no longer enough to run a global playbook and hope for local resonance. Why? Because the center of gravity in FMCG has shifted. 84% of FMCG companies are now increasing local decision autonomy in key growth markets. (Bain FMCG Operating Model Report, 2023) → That means your CMO can’t be the only one with a finger on the pulse. → Your regional GM can’t just execute HQ strategy. → And your global leaders can’t lead with assumptions they need cultural fluency and operational humility. In other words: local-for-local is not just a supply chain shift. It’s a leadership shift. The most successful candidates weren’t those who had rotated through five global hubs. They were the ones who could… → Read the cultural nuances of consumer behavior in that specific region → Navigate the regulatory quirks that could derail a product launch → Influence global teams while building trust with local retailers → Speak the language literally and commercially They understood the street not just the spreadsheet. And they had the rare ability to connect what’s happening on the ground with what needs to be shifted at the center. These are the leaders FMCG needs now. → Strategists who don’t just adapt to the market, they anticipate it. → Operators who don’t wait for HQ they build and test in-market. → Connectors who know when to push back and when to align. Because in today’s world, speed and relevance win. And that doesn’t come from waiting for global sign-off. It comes from empowering the right local leaders. Here’s where I see many companies trip up: They treat “local” as junior. As operational. As reactive. The truth? Your next competitive edge may be a GM in Manila, a Marketing Director in Lagos, or a Commercial Lead in Warsaw who’s trusted enough to build strategy from the ground up. That’s what global FMCG companies are starting to understand and what we’re helping them solve for in every executive search we run. Not just global leaders who can work across regions…but local leaders who can lead across functions, cultures, and expectations while driving growth with urgency and empathy. This is the new face of global FMCG. Not centralized, but coordinated. Not rigid, but responsive. Not top-down, but built from the middle out. #ExecutiveSearch #FMCGLeadership #GlobalGrowth #ConsumerGoods #TalentStrategy #LeadershipHiring

Investing ₹20 lakhs in an under-construction flat in Hyderabad could have made you ₹1 crore in 4 years. No, this isn’t a clickbait ad. It’s an actual deal that early buyers in a project I visited just exited from. ⸻ Last week, I flew to Hyderabad to meet Ajitesh Korupolu, founder of ASBL — a developer who’s building over 10,000 homes and scaled to ₹6,000 Cr in sales. I wanted to learn what real estate investors really do to make 2X, 3X, even 5X returns — and how everyday folks can do it too. Here are the 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Real Estate Investing in India: 1. Timing beats location. Buying during “excavation stage” (literally when the builder starts digging) gives the highest upside. In the project I saw: ₹1.2 Cr (early stage) → ₹2.2 Cr (ready to move in) That’s ₹1 Cr appreciation in 4 years. 2. Leverage is your friend — if you understand it. With just ₹20L down, buyers took home ₹1 Cr net after selling. Why? Because construction-linked loans mean you pay EMI only as the building goes up. 3. Ready-to-move-in = ready-to-trap-yourself. If you’re buying to invest, stop chasing finished flats. Capital is locked, returns are capped, rental yields are 2–3%. 4. Risk isn’t in the property. It’s in the builder. 30% of under-construction projects still face delays. Do this before investing: → Study builder’s past projects → Compare scale continuity → Understand their financing cycle 5. Hyderabad is exploding — for real. Amazon, Google, Apple are setting up their second-largest global HQs here. Tech jobs → housing demand → appreciation cycle → investor opportunity. ⸻ Real estate isn’t slow money. If you play it like the pros, it’s high-leverage, high-upside, timed risk. And I’m going to keep learning, testing, and sharing every play. Watch the full episode to learn it all. I'm adding the link in the comments. #rentvsbuy #realestate #investinginahome #hyderabad

A Return To Office mandate is a funny thing. A trade-off of lower workforce productivity, morale, retention, engagement, and trust in exchange for...managers feeling more in control. It's more a sign of insecurity and incompetence than sound decision-making. The fact that 80% of executives who have pushed for RTO mandates have later regretted their decision only makes the point further, and yet every few months more leaders line up to pad this statistic. In case your leaders have forgotten, return to office mandates are associated with: 🔻 16% lower intent to stay among the highest-performing employees (Gartner) 🔻 10% less trust, psychological safety, and relationship quality between workers and their managers (Great Place to Work) 🔻 22% of employees from marginalized groups becoming more likely to search for new jobs (Greenhouse) 🔻 No significant change in financial performance while guaranteeing damage to employee satisfaction (Ding and Ma, 2024) The thing is, we KNOW how to do hybrid work well at this point. 🎯 Allow teams to decide on in-person expectations, and hold people accountable to it—high flexibility; high accountability. 🎯 Make in-person time unique and valuable, with brainstorming, events, and culture-building activities—not video calls all day in the office. 🎯 Value outcomes, not appearances, of productivity—reward those who get their work done regardless of where they do it. 🎯 Train inclusive managers, not micromanagers—build in them the skills and confidence to lead with trust rather than fear and insecurity. Leaders that fly in the face of all this data to insist that workers return to office "OR ELSE" communicate one thing: they are the kinds of leaders that place their own egos and comfort above their shareholders and employees alike. Faced with the very real test of how to design the hybrid workforce of the future, these leaders chose to throw a tantrum in their bid to return to the past, and their organizations will suffer for it. The leaders that will thrive in this time? Those that are willing to do the work. Those that are willing to listen to their workforce, skill up to meet new needs, and claim their rewards in the form of the best talent, higher productivity, and the highest level of worker loyalty and trust. Will that be you?

*UPDATED* (and still true): When you build "luxury" new apartments in big numbers, the influx of supply puts downward pressure on rents at all price points -- even in the lowest-priced Class C rentals. Here's evidence of that happening right now: There are 21 U.S. markets where Class C rents are falling at least 4% YoY. What is the common denominator? You guessed it: Supply. Of those, all but one have supply expansion rates ABOVE the U.S. average. In Florida -- which continues to make itself a supply magnet with strong demand + the boost from the new Live Local legislation -- NINE metro areas made the list, with Class C rent cuts exceeding 4% year-over-year. Other key markets nationally to highlight: Ultra-high-supplied big markets like Austin, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Raleigh/Durham and Atlanta are all seeing sizable Class C rent cuts of at least 5%. Tampa, Dallas, Charlotte and Orlando cut at least 4%. Small markets on the list include Provo, Greenville, Colorado Springs, and Wilmington (NC). Bear in mind that apartment demand is NOT the issue in any of these markets. They're all demand magnets. Sure, they've seen some moderation / normalization for in-migration and job growth, but (among the larger metros) every single one of them ranks among the national leaders for net absorption. (Interestingly, btw, Class C rents are falling materially MORE than Class A rents in most of these markets.) Simply put: Supply is doing what it's supposed to do when you add a ton of it. It's a process academics call "filtering" -- which happens when higher-income renters in Class B+/A- apartments move up into higher-priced new Class A+ units ... and then Class B+/A- units see vacancy increase, so they cut rents to lure up Class B renters ... and they Class B cuts rents to lure Class C renters. And down the line it goes. Filtering works best when we build a lot of apartments. We didn't see this phenomenon play out as clearly in past cycles when supply was relatively limited -- and failed to keep pace with demand. We probably won't see it in future years, either, as supply inevitably plunges and (barring some shock) could revert back to falling short of demand in high-growth markets. Less anyone still doubt, the inverse is true as well: Class C rents climbed at least 4% YoY in 22 of the nation's 150 largest metros, and nearly all of them have limited supply. So you can't just blame affordability ceilings when Class C rents are climbing briskly in low-supply markets while falling in high-supply markets. Most new construction tends to be Class A "luxury" because that's what pencils out due to high cost of everything from land to labor to materials to impact fees to insurance to taxes, etc. So critics will say: "We don't need more luxury apartments!" Yes, you do. Because when you build "luxury" apartments at scale, you will put downward pressure on rents at all price points. #multifamily #affordability #housing #rents

🌎 Designing Cross-Cultural And Multi-Lingual UX. Guidelines on how to stress test our designs, how to define a localization strategy and how to deal with currencies, dates, word order, pluralization, colors and gender pronouns. ⦿ Translation: “We adapt our message to resonate in other markets”. ⦿ Localization: “We adapt user experience to local expectations”. ⦿ Internationalization: “We adapt our codebase to work in other markets”. ✅ English-language users make up about 26% of users. ✅ Top written languages: Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese. ✅ Most users prefer content in their native language(s). ✅ French texts are on average 20% longer than English ones. ✅ Japanese texts are on average 30–60% shorter. 🚫 Flags aren’t languages: avoid them for language selection. 🚫 Language direction ≠ design direction (“F” vs. Zig-Zag pattern). 🚫 Not everybody has first/middle names: “Full name” is better. ✅ Always reserve at least 30% room for longer translations. ✅ Stress test your UI for translation with pseudolocalization. ✅ Plan for line wrap, truncation, very short and very long labels. ✅ Adjust numbers, dates, times, formats, units, addresses. ✅ Adjust currency, spelling, input masks, placeholders. ✅ Always conduct UX research with local users. When localizing an interface, we need to work beyond translation. We need to be respectful of cultural differences. E.g. in Arabic we would often need to increase the spacing between lines. For Chinese market, we need to increase the density of information. German sites require a vast amount of detail to communicate that a topic is well-thought-out. Stress test your design. Avoid assumptions. Work with local content designers. Spend time in the country to better understand the market. Have local help on the ground. And test repeatedly with local users as an ongoing part of the design process. You’ll be surprised by some findings, but you’ll also learn to adapt and scale to be effective — whatever market is going to come up next. Useful resources: UX Design Across Different Cultures, by Jenny Shen https://lnkd.in/eNiyVqiH UX Localization Handbook, by Phrase https://lnkd.in/eKN7usSA A Complete Guide To UX Localization, by Michal Kessel Shitrit 🎗️ https://lnkd.in/eaQJt-bU Designing Multi-Lingual UX, by yours truly https://lnkd.in/eR3GnwXQ Flags Are Not Languages, by James Offer https://lnkd.in/eaySNFGa IBM Globalization Checklists https://lnkd.in/ewNzysqv Books: ⦿ Cross-Cultural Design (https://lnkd.in/e8KswErf) by Senongo Akpem ⦿ The Culture Map (https://lnkd.in/edfyMqhN) by Erin Meyer ⦿ UX Writing & Microcopy (https://lnkd.in/e_ZFu374) by Kinneret Yifrah

The Great Wall of CRE There is a massive CRE debt wall that has been built, and it looks very scarry. This wall is newsworthy because it hasn’t previously been reported how massive the wall is. Last week, Mortgage Bankers Association released a report entitled “Commercial Real Estate Survey of Loan Maturity Volumes,” which shows $930B of CRE loans are now scheduled to mature in 2024. This figure is ~70% higher vs. $544B of CRE loans previously reported by Bloomberg/Trepp data. The bar chart (below) shows the reported CRE debt maturity wall reported 1 year ago. So how did the 2024 maturity wall grow so massively? That is my question of the day. You are correct if you answered “extensions.” That’s right, old-fashioned kick the can down the road is why a huge cohort of the 2023 CRE maturing loans slipped into the 2024 maturity cohort. Amend and Extend and Pretend has become the key to avoiding default and that’s exactly what many CRE owners/operators have done, with the willing help of the lender. In all my years, I have never seen such a massive absolute number or percentage of maturities amended and extended. A total of $5.6T CRE debt matures in the next decade. Banks are the largest lender, accounting for 50% of all CRE debt, followed by CMBS market, which has securitized over $1T in CMBS loans. The opportunity to work with banks on asset sales & capital solutions; to buy CMBS dislocation, the fallen angels as rating downgrades occur and to provide fresh loans at the new valuation reset is what many of us are focused on. 2024-2025 will likely prove to be the period that determines which loans will pay off, which will be restructured, and which will have a hard default. The Great Wall of CRE: 2024 has grown to $930B according to MBA!

Zoom, of all organizations, understands distributed work. But like every company with an office lease, they’re trying to figure out how to make the best use of that investment. In-person time still matters, but real estate costs are no longer formulaic. So how can companies make more data-driven decisions about what to do with offices? Here are 3 metrics Atlassian uses to make sure we’re spending on real estate in a smart way: 1. Cost-per-visit: How much does it cost each time an employee visits an office? (Divide the total cost of operating the office by the total number of visits in a quarter; compare your cost per visit from pre to post pandemic, and flag any office where the cost per visit is 3x higher than pre-pandemic) 2. Visitor Engagement: How many employees come into an office and for what purpose? Look at what type of work they’re doing (collaborative or deep, individual work), how often they’re coming in (frequency based on anonymized IP addresses), and if they’re local or traveling in for an offsite. 3. Utilization: Do you have the too much square footage? (Divide average daily number of visits to an office by the capacity of that office — to find capacity, assume 150 sq ft per person / total square footage) We used these metrics to reduce our office footprint in some places, and grow our footprint in others. By continuously monitoring our office ROI, we’re able to offer employees a cost-efficient place to collaborate, without mandating in-office attendance.

Maine just legalized 3 units per lot statewide. No planning board approval needed for 4 units or fewer. But the real breakthrough isn't the density. It's what they eliminated: Maine has seen the biggest house price growth in the US since 2019. The median cost is $400k, nearly double what it was 6 years ago. Radical change was needed. So they broadly legalized ADUs as part of the larger package of reforms. Including sweeping changes to zoning and land use regulations. Here's what LD 1829 actually does: 1/ Density: • Maximum 2 off-street parking spaces for every 3 units • Three dwelling units per residential lot is now legalized • Affordable housing developments get 2.5x the base density allowance Municipalities are now required to permit multiple dwelling units per residential lot. 2/ Review Processes: • All planning board members must attend mandatory training • No planning board approval needed for projects with four or fewer dwelling units • Wastewater verification and subdivision threshold "loopholes" have been simplified Required planning board approval for smaller projects is prohibited. 3/ Other Changes: • Owner-occupancy mandates for ADUs eliminated • Uniform dimensional standards for multiple-unit dwellings same as single-family homes • Minimum lot sizes in growth areas capped at 5,000 SF with 1,250 SF per dwelling unit density This is the density breakthrough. Maine now allows up to 4 units on lots in growth areas, with just 1,250 SF of lot area per unit. That's 4x the housing on the same land. Small developers can finally compete without needing millions in land acquisition. Maine eliminated barriers that made small-scale multifamily difficult to build. The timeline for these changes: Applies immediately: Fire sprinklers, ADU definition, and mandatory training. July 1, 2026: Core zoning and density changes. July 1, 2027: All other municipalities. The bigger picture: Maine has shifted how housing density and development approval is processed. Something more states should follow. Read the full report linked in the comments.