The mission of the Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics is to educate students and real estate professionals and to support and conduct research on real estate, urban economics, the California economy, land use, and public policy.
News & Announcements
Falling populations threaten the Bay Area, but Ken Rosen is optimistic, long-term. “The Bay Area, which was a magnet for the whole world, is no longer that magnet.”
Nancy Wallace on Silicon Valley Bank: ““This is a monumental failure of risk management on the part of both the bank and the regulators. Interest rate risk is basic banking 101.” Haas Newsroom.
Ken Rosen on the collapse of SVB: “There was a reason others didn’t do what they were doing.” Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Ken Rosen on SF in 2023: “I think it’s very possible that the value of the office building may be down 40% — that could have implications for property tax collection and force the city to cut services, which could have a spiraling effect.” SF Business Times.
Congratulations to the Berkeley-Haas team for placing second at the in the 2022 UT Austin National Real Estate Challenge. That’s five years in a row the team has made it to the final room!
“Most people didn’t cash in, but they felt better. The froth is gone, so now they feel worse.” Ken Rosen on falling home prices in SF, in Bloomberg.
“Save more, spend less….” Ken Rosen on tech layoffs and the broader Bay Area economy, SF Business Times.
Cal Team Wins the 33rd Annual NAIOP Real Estate Challenge Golden Shovel!
Berkeley-Haas team wins the UNC Development Challenge!
Ken Rosen predicts that inflation could hit 9% before easing, at the Real Estate & Economics Symposium, Charting 2022: Temporary Disruption or Permanent Transformation?
Amir Kermani’s research on how foreclosures are fueling America’s racial wealth gap, in Mother Jones and the Haas Newsroom.
The Berkeley-Haas team has won the 2021 UT Austin National Real Estate Challenge. This is Berkeley’s third win in four years!
“The markets aren’t priced for climate change, and the situation is dire.” Nancy Wallace on climate risk and fire.
Congratulations to Nancy Wallace for winning the Williamson Award, Berkeley-Haas’s highest faculty honor.
Unfair property tax assessments cost lower-income Americans billions, in the New York Times. Haas PhD Troup Howard’s work using the Fisher Center’s REFM Lab data is highlighted, on the racial disparities in assessments.
“To say we’re in recovery would be a mistake. We’re still in a deep, deep hole.” Ken Rosen on the Bay Area, at the SF Business Times Mayors’ Economic Forecast.
“Donald Trump has burned a lot of bridges in commercial lending.” Nancy Wallace on the PBS News Hour on Trump’s financial woes.
“We had the boom, but the boom is over.” Ken Rosen in the SF Chronicle on Bay Area real estate in 2021.
Amir Kermani on liquidation of assets in bankruptcy. “Companies going through Chapter 11 restructuring are worth about twice as much when they are going concerns rather than liquidated.”
Will the Fed ramp up its bond-purchasing plans, given the economic slowdown? Professor Amir Kermani interviewed by Reuters.
Cal Team Wins the 31st Annual NAIOP Real Estate Challenge Golden Shovel for Third Consecutive Year!
Congratulations to the “Hackahaas” team for winning the Finance division of the 24-hour HackAHouse housing affordability competition, with their plan to expand ADU financing opportunities though condo conversions to increase affordable housing.
Ken Rosen on Joe Biden’s proposed tax changes, in Commercial Property Executive. “Raising the capital gains (tax rate) and eliminating the 1031 would create a 20 percent decline in commercial real estate values.”
Nancy Wallace in the NY Times on fintech lending discrimination. “The differential is smaller. But it should be zero.”
Ken Rosen in the SF Business Times on the impact of the coronavirus on unicorn startups in the Bay Area.
More coverage of Nancy Wallace’s work on shadow banking and the mortgage market, in The New Republic.
Professor Victor Couture and colleagues release powerful open-source cellphone tracking data to researchers studying Covid-19.
Nancy Wallace on nonbanks in the looming mortgage market crisis. “They can’t keep pushing the envelope and then expect to be rescued. It’s just wrong.”
“To bail them out after the fact is really unconscionable.” Nancy Wallace in the Washington Post on the mortgage industry’s request for billions in federal aid.
Mortgage firms teeter near crisis that regulators saw coming. A Bloomberg article highlights Fisher Center research on the systemic risk posed by undercapitalized nonbank lenders.
“This is the most uncertainty that I’ve seen in my lifetime.” Ken Rosen in BisNow on the impact of coronavirus on commercial real estate.
“The airports are empty. The roads are empty. It tells you something.” Ken Rosen in the San Francisco Business Times on the likelihood of a pandemic-triggered recession.
Bay Area rents increasing more slowly, due to new supply, affordability, and out-migration. Ken Rosen in SFGate.
Bay Area housing market coolest in the nation, according to Ken Rosen in the San Francisco Chronicle.
