Kern Investment Research

There has been continued concern in the professional real estate community that the NAR has consistently mis-understood housing statistics. It may be charitable to call it that. This powerful industry group has fallen prey to the same line of reasoning that ultimately doomed many members of the mortgage bankers association, that it's always a good idea to buy a house. Let me share with you why their...

Major Mall Developers have finally succeeded in doing something that planning officers and public officials feared from the start. The destruction of the image on the Malls in now almost complete. With massive advertising panels now adorning vacant spaces, Mall owners opted for very minimal revenue and are actively trying, it seems, to create a new kind of shoppers repellent. While claiming to pursue...

Reit analyst Paul Puryear is brave, and providing a real public service. Those analysts who cover these specialized investments tend to be more reactive than necessary and he's done a good job make the point about value. In essence, Analyst Puryear criticizes the Street, for a sell off in REIT stocks, when the underlying value is still strong. I admire Mr. Puryear, but have some issues with his choices....

The multifamily industry and in particular the investment grade rental markets popular with REITs are now undergoing some stresses. The industry has enjoyed, in the recent past, an almost unbroken string of good years with gains in net operating income, rent increases and a terrific capital market, allowing property transactions to sell at low cap rates. Now, the U.S. economy's slowdown has finally...

The number of foreclosure actions continued to rise in the first part of this year and owners and investors found they were unable to either refinance or sell the homes for what they had in mortgages. One of the little understood facets of this current phase in the disintegration of the housing markets is the fact that many of these homes were purchased from around the middle of 2006 until the 3rd...