COVERAGE INFORMATION:
California Department of Real Estate (DRE) NEWS CLIPS service coverage:
Monday through Friday (except state holidays) each week includes electronic format articles retrieved from newspapers
or news services that report real estate related news in California and some national services. Coverage is for California
newspapers that are available electronically via the Internet – and any significant related breaking news.
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© Copyright 2023, California Department of Real Estate Links to web sites do not constitute an endorsement from The California Department of Real Estate. These links
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Top Stories
Offices Around America Hit a New Vacancy Record
KONRAD PUTZIER, Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
America’s offices are emptier than at any point in at least four decades, reflecting years of overbuilding and shifting work habits that were accelerated by the pandemic.
A staggering 19.6% of office space in major U.S. cities wasn’t leased as of the fourth quarter, according to Moody’s Analytics, up from 18.8% a year earlier. That is slightly above the previous records of 19.3% set in 1986 and 1991 and the highest number since at least 1979, which is as far back as Moody’s data go.
National News
Construction outlook for 2024 a mixed bag as contractors struggle to attract, retain labor
ASHLEY FAHEY, The National Observer
Labor has been consistently cited as a top challenge for general contractors, an issue that long predates the Covid-19 pandemic.
In December, the construction industry added 17,000 net jobs, part of what was a stronger-than-expected jobs report released late last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Between December 2022 and December 2023, industry employment grew 2.5%, to 197,000 new jobs, according to an analysis of BLS data by industry trade group the Associated Builders and Contractors.
Still, the unemployment rate in construction continues to outpace the national unemployment rate, at 4.4% in December compared to 3.7%.
California News
California homebuying crashed in 2023. What’s next?
JONATHAN LANSNER, San Diego Union-Tribune (Subscription)
Let me make one prediction about California’s housing market in 2024.
The number of purchases will increase.
Could sales go any lower after crashing into history’s basement this year?
My trusty spreadsheet reviewed various homebuying metrics that the California Association of Realtors has published dating to 1990. We tossed in some broader economic yardsticks kept by various government agencies, too.
This look at the annual average swings during those 33 years — including the 12 months that ended in November 2023 — shows California homebuying has never been slower.
Last year, S.F. built the least new housing in a decade. But there’s hope for 2024
J.K. DINEEN, San Francisco Chronicle (Subscription)
Crippled by a seemingly endless pandemic hangover and a lack of investor confidence in the city’s future, 2023 was San Francisco’s weakest year for housing production in a decade, with just 2,024 units completed.
The crop of new units represented a 30% decline from 2022, and a 57% drop from 2021. Among the 2,024 new apartments and condos were 805 affordable units, which was 37% less than the prior year.
Residents protest Irvine Company plan to build 1,180 houses in wildlife corridor
BROOKE SATAGGS, Orange County Register (Subscription)
Bobcats, mountain lions, deer, foxes and other local wildlife all make regular appearances on trail cameras along the perimeter of 400 largely undeveloped acres that separate Irvine and Peters Canyon regional parks in the rural foothills of east Orange.
The animals use the V-shaped corridor to cross between the two parks and into the nearby Santa Ana Mountains during their increasingly competitive search for food, mates and territory to call home, according to Joel Robinson, an Orange native who heads up the nonprofit Naturalist for You.
San Diego in ‘24: Experts predict higher home prices and more
PHILLIP MOLNAR, San Diego Union (Tribune)
This year could see yet another jump in home prices amid rising unemployment and gas prices, a group of local experts is predicting.
We asked our Econometer panel of San Diego business leaders and economists to predict what the economy will look like in the coming year. Detailed forecasts are listed at the bottom of the article.
At the start of 2023, the panel also made predictions — and came close to calling how the year would end.
Industry News
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Adaptive Reuse
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Real Estate Technology
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Property News
The Symbiotic Relationship of Housing and Transit
DIANA IONESCU, Planetizen
A proposed federal law would promote transit-oriented development and prioritize funding for jurisdictions that adopt ‘pro-housing policies’ such as eliminating parking minimums and clearing the way for multifamily construction by reducing minimum lot sizes and raising height limits.
In Case You Missed It
Record deals and tax-avoidance maneuvers: Southern California’s priciest sales of 2023
JACK FLEMING, Los Angeles Times (Subscription)
Southern California’s luxury real estate market never sleeps. But this past year, it collectively caught its breath.
Luxury sales slowed down in 2023 — a combination of soaring interest rates, a newly introduced “mansion tax” and an inevitable drop-off from a pandemic market when megamansions flipped like hotcakes.
In 2022, there were 17 home sales above $50 million and 48 over $30 million in L.A. County, according to the Multiple Listing Service. In 2023, there were only five sales over $50 million and 23 over $30 million.
Resources, Webinars, and Other Items of Interest
CA Real Estate Bulletin
California Department of Real Estate (DRE)
As an educational service to real estate licensees and other interested parties, DRE quarterly publishes the Real Estate Bulletin on the DRE website. New issues are released in mid-March, mid-June, mid-September, and mid-December.
https://www.dre.ca.gov/Publications/RealEstateBulletin.html
2024 Real Estate Law Book
DRE
The 2024 Real Estate Law is comprised of statutes and regulations with which real estate practitioners should be familiar. It is divided into four parts by subject matter as follows:
