DID YOU KNOW? Cell-tower owners have been among the fastest-growing companies in the real estate investment trust sector, as consumers use more data through mobile phones and tablets than ever before The Wall Street Journal

Last month, security researchers found that Amazon-owned Ring’s apps contained hidden code, which had shared customer data with 3rd marketers. In December, hackers hijacked Ring cameras of multiple families, using the devices’ speakers to verbally assault some of them The New York Times

DID YOU KNOW? Brexit certainty has fueled U.K. home sales to rise 5.2% in January compared to a year ago, according to new data from the country’s tax authority. Optimism is returning, although some degree of certainty is usually what fuels spending most WSJ Real Estate

There was good news amid the sea of red. New and pending home sales both came in far above expectations, completing the "perfect month" for the U.S. housing markets. In addition, all of the major housing data released in February showed better-than-expected results Seeking Alpha

DID YOU KNOW? Two-thirds of investors believed that geopolitics, rather than fundamentals, were driving equity markets. UBS

You can give as much as $15k to as many individuals as you wish without triggering gift taxes. The lifetime exemption from gift and estate taxes increases to $11.58 million in 2020 from $11.4 million in 2019. Often this is a source of first-time buyer down-payments! The Wall Street Journal

DID YOU KNOW? Only 69% of tenants paid any of their rent between April 1 and 5, compared with 81% in the first week of March and 82% in April 2019 Dow Jones

DID YOU KNOW? One thing most corporations and small businesses are doing right now to cut costs? Renegotiate their real estate leases... MarketWatch

Apple and Google are partnering to add technology to their smartphone platforms that will alert users if they have come into contact with a person with Covid-19. It has the potential to monitor about a third of the world’s population....or over 2.5 billion people! Bloomberg

Real estate equity has multiple uses: Some of the world’s richest homeowners are using real estate holdings to access cash. Loans backed by real estate to help repay other debt, invest in businesses and snap up cheap assets are proving useful in a weak global market Bloomberg

Weekly jobless claims data to be released today is expected to show that another 5 million people filed for unemployment benefits, bringing the total to over 22 million in just a month. Some economists say the unprecedented surge in unemployment claims could be peaking CNBC

DID YOU KNOW? Lumber prices for July delivery are up 46% from a low on April 1 and 15% higher than a year ago, indicating a rebound in construction demand. With trade tensions with China worsening, don't expect construction costs to go down: the exact opposite is possible The Wall Street Journal

DID YOU KNOW? Current cash levels are above a historical average dating back to 2005. Cash allocations have risen to nearly 14% for BOFA clients. Over $1 Trillion could enter the markets soon..... the S&P 500 is up more than 35% since March 23. CNBC

Today's inflation caused by inventory shortages is partly a result of years of under-investment. Tons of investment money has been directed to new economies, at the expense of the old economies. Goldman Sachs

Sales at U.S. retail stores, online sellers, & restaurants rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.7% in October compared w/ the previous month. This spending surge is attributable to roughly $2 trillion in excess savings that households have accrued since the start of the pandemic.The Wall Street Journal

Housing starts disappointed at 1.52 million annualized versus 1.58 million estimated. We continue to UNDER-build. Like all things under-supplied, this forces prices up.... Compass

For all of 2021, housing starts were the highest for any year since 2006. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in December was about 1.7 million, beating consensus estimates that called for 1.65 million. Barron's

No-one knows if history will repeat itself but multiple past 10% equity market corrections of the S&P 500 triggered markets rising anywhere from 1.3% to over 24% in the following 6 months. CNBC

In 2021, rent prices for single-family units climbed at three times the rate as they did in 2020, according to new data released by CoreLogic. An analysis by the business intelligence firm found that annual rent price gains jumped 7.8% in 2021 CNBC

Twenty years ago, only 0.57% of U.S. homes worth $150,000 or more had installed backup generators, mainly along hurricane-prone coastlines, according to backup-power provider Generac Holdings. Now the number is 5.75%, a 10-fold increase. The Wall Street Journal