Aggregate consumer spending for the months of November and December declined \~5 and 6% YoY respectively, driven by foot traffic declines of \~14%, a drastic slowdown relative to the \~2% to 6% YoY sales growth exhibited in the same period in the last two years.
Development site sales were a bright spot for the U.S. market in 2020, with investment activity for the year through November down only 5% from a year earlier, according to Real Capital Analytics data. Who is buying these sites and the reasons why have changed from earlier in the cycle.
The National Multifamily Housing Council reports that 76.6% of households living in the country’s stock of professionally-managed market-rate apartment properties have paid rent for January as of the 6th. The latest results are off by 1.7 percentage points from the 78.3% share of households making payments through January 6, 2020.
2020 saw nationwide job listings down 2% year-over-year. Surprisingly, given the overall economic turmoil incited by the pandemic, just 5 months last year saw decline, while 7 months showed growth. At the lowest point job openings were down 27%, but by the end of 2020 jobs were back up to 67% of pre-COVID levels.
There is still a little time left on the clock, but a week before Christmas 2020 and right at the start of the 2021 NBA season, Nike continues to dominate Adidas in the COVID-19 recovery game. Since we last checked in mid-June, Nike has widened the gap, with total foot traffic at their outlet locations back to within 30% of 2019 levels. That’s up from -55% when we last checked the brand score.
The Dodge Momentum Index jumped 9.2% in December to 134.6 (2000=100) from the revised November reading of 123.3. The Momentum Index, issued by Dodge Data & Analytics, is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. The commercial component of the Momentum Index rose 14.0%, while the institutional component rose by 0.3%.
According to ATTOM Data Solutions’ newly released 2021 Rental Affordability Report, owning a median-priced three-bedroom home is more affordable than renting a three-bedroom property in 63 percent of the U.S. counties analyzed. The annual report noted this trend is occurring despite median home prices increasing more than average rents over the past year in 83 percent of those counties and rising more than wages in almost two-thirds of the nation.
Among the list of COVID-19 winners and losers, Wine & Liquor stores stand out as clear winners. Brick-and-mortar locations were considered essential businesses in many states and were allowed to stay open while other retailers shuttered, and both online and offline outlets benefitted from the closure of restaurants for seated dining.
Look for another round of substantial apartment completions across the U.S. in 2021. Scheduled deliveries top 2020’s already big volumes in many metros, including most of the gateway markets where rent achievement has deteriorated so much during recent months.
Black Friday did not produce surges of their usual magnitude. Super Saturday weekend was strong but the day itself still lower than 2019 levels, and even Turkey Wednesday fell short for many grocers. Yet, like they have proven all year, the grocery sector is uniquely capable of adapting to the current challenges. And once again, even where other days fell short, the sector found another boost.
SuperData, a Nielsen company, today is releasing its 2020 Year in Review report focusing on the health of digital games and interactive media market, the impact of COVID-19 on games and brands, and likely gaming trends in 2021. Overall, digital games alone earned $126.6B in 2020, up 12% year-over-year in a year where audiences were forced to stay home and interact remotely.
The U.S. apartment market has ended 2020 with sustained healthy occupancy but very mixed results across metros in terms of rent achievement. December occupancy in the country’s 150 largest metros came in at 95.5%, only a hair under the year-earlier figure of 95.6%. Influencing that performance, product demand stayed solid during 4th quarter, a period when normal seasonality tends to yield minimal product absorption.
Europe’s biggest commercial real estate markets have maintained higher liquidity through the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic than markets in the Americas and Asia Pacific, according to the third quarter 2020 update of the RCA Capital Liquidity Scores.
The restaurant industry has been completely upended by COVID, though with dramatically different effects on sub-sectors. QSR restaurants benefitted from their strength in drive-thru, delivery, and takeaway allowing them to offset losses and even drive strength during the pandemic. And the year to come could be especially well suited for their offerings as economic uncertainty could further boost the appeal of their high-value offering.
Energy use, especially in how it relates to climate change and global reform, is a big issue. But after a year of big issues—it’s easy to overlook changes in the energy sector in favor of those that seem more urgent. However, many of these issues are closely related. Pandemics share many of the same root issues as climate change. Plus, COVID-19 impacted climate change in complicated ways.
Citi Bike is New York City’s bike share system, and the largest in the United States. Citi Bike launched in May 2013 and has over 1,000 docking stations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Jersey City. It currently has over 17,000 bikes in service. With the help of a $100 million investment from Lyft over the next 4 years, the number of bikes and miles serviced is expected to double to 40,000 and 35, respectively. While there are many different patterns across locals, tourist, age groups and genders one trend is clear, New York City has embraced Citi Bike and ridership is rising.
National home prices increased 8.2% year over year in November 2020, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI®) Report. The November 2020 HPI gain was up from the November 2019 gain of 3.7% and was the highest year-over-year gain since March 2014. Home sales for the year are expected to register above 2019 levels. Meanwhile, the availability of for-sale homes has dwindled as demand increased and coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks continued across the country, which delayed some sellers from putting their homes on the market.
2020 has come and gone in a flash. It feels like yesterday we were introducing this year’s Super Bowl ads and obsessing over March Madness. Now, we’re talking about the biggest Cyber Week on record and the art of copywriting during the pandemic. The year was filled with highs and lows, advertising campaigns never to be forgotten, and ones you wish you could (looking at you, moldy Whopper). Without further ado, check out a few of advertising’s winners and losers of 2020.
2020 had one last dance move to bust out, and it will change the way you look at robotics, and think about the future. Boston Dynamics robots are dancing like no one is watching (though we know Elon Musk is keeping close tabs). The company’s fleet of robots are specializing and mastering new skills, and they are starting to sell. Their intimidating Spot the dog robot is currently up for grabs for $74,500 (with 400 already sold).
With the festive season behind us and the new year begun, Huq looks back at high-street footfall during the Christmas shopping period between December 15-24th for Oxford Street, London and the Grand Vía, Madrid. We often provide outputs from our geolocaton dataset in the form of a time-series index as this is one of the most effective ways to highlight the information contained within the underlying mobility data.
