Value Estimates With The Sales Comparison Approach Need More Transparency

Abstract The popular sales comparison approach used by analysts to estimate value needs further clarification to show users and the public that professional judgment is applied in every step. Appraisers label this process as Reconciliation to assure that the best data is used and the analysis is meaningful relative to other value estimates.  Future data-driven… Read more

Perspectives

Zombie Malls – Part 3: Bringing Dead Shopping Venues Back to Life Through Multifamily Development – A Hypothetical

Abstract As more retail activity goes online with Ecommerce and given the fact that the U.S. is over retailed, mall owners/developers are looking for ways to revitalize and monetize their real estate by adding multifamily to create a mixed-use environment. One of the main drivers of this effort is parking reduction, as developers and retailers… Read more

Finding the Direction of Future Sales Prices In a Residential Market Analysis Using the Months-of-Supply Indicator

Abstract The Months-of-Supply market statistic combines indicators of residential demand and supply to determine market trends and their impact on future transaction prices. It is available from local real estate, government, and selected university sources, or calculated using data typically found in the office. The interaction of demand and supply trends shows a shortage or… Read more

Perspectives

Rebuilding Ukraine

As someone who has lived and worked through the destruction of a country, first hand seen the rebuilding of one country, Serbia, twice and seen the redevelopment of several other countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia) I feel compelled to give my thoughts on the rebuilding of Ukraine. The war in… Read more

Features

The Future of Affordable Housing in the US: Global Solutions for a Local Problem

Introduction Amidst an ensuing cost of living crisis in many geographies, a higher for longer interest rate environment, and the sustained shocks of inflation resulting from the pandemic years and the return of interstate war in Europe, a feeling of economic insecurity pervades many societies today. Remarkably, in an economy which is expanding over 3%… Read more

Lessons I Learned from Ray Torto

Ray Torto was an important teacher and mentor for me. His recent passing has put me in a reflective mood about the things I learned from him. I owe much of the success in my career to his ability to teach. In 1996, I packed up my life in Chicago and drove out to Boston to work for Torto Wheaton Research. Ray Torto and Bill Wheaton set up an innovative business in the early 1980s as personal computer technology allowed new types of analysis to... Read More