News of the US Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse has flooded the media headlines over the past week, and unsurprisingly, many are wondering how it fits in with the real estate cycle. First the backdrop. For those not aware, SVB was a leading provider of financial services to technology and innovation start up industries. The bank is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, but operates in the United States, Europe, and Asia. SVB worked with many well-known companies and inv

Movements in the field of transportation are shaping what we can expect to see in the last few years of this cycle. They’re affecting how land will be utilised in the next. Remember, infrastructure and the innovation that advances it is part of what gives land its value and turns the real estate cycle. The energy needed to fuel the new forms of transport, however, is what drives the longer Kondratieff cycle. Transportation increases the economic rent of land. But it can also,

I had an interesting question from a Cycles, Trends & Forecasts subscriber this week. Take a look: ‘ Catherine, I bought my house here in South Melbourne in October 1981. ‘ It cost me $ 55,000, a 2 bedroom weather board, north yard, free standing with side gateway, all in good order. ‘ I could sell it today for about $1,300,000 $55,000 subtracted from $1,300,000 leaves the sum of $1,245,000.  ‘ Is this sum what you mean by economic rent, I was sleeping a third of that time.

An article caught my attention this week in The Australian about owners selling the air above their apartment blocks for profit. Take a look: ‘ Eight owners of a Sydney apartment block recently banded together to sell off the airspace above their building for almost $1m and the idea is catching on. ‘ Rooftop property development specialist Warren Livesey estimates the airspace above strata unit blocks in Australia is an untapped $100bn plus market. ‘ He has been selling Sydn

I want to pay tribute to Dame Vivienne Westwood, who passed away at the age of 81 on 29 December. Her passing received wide media coverage. The global icon was responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashion into the mainstream, helping launch and clothe the Sex Pistols, and having a tremendous influence on how thousands of men and women dressed throughout the years. However, Westwood was, at heart, an activist. In her autobiography, Vivienne Westwood , written with