Happy Friday, friends! It’s been a busy week in our household with holiday parties, new listings, very active buyers, a beautiful walk through the San Diego Botanical Garden’s Lightscape and lots of neighborhood holiday light viewing. Maven’s Christmas spirit is a 12/10 right now and if she isn’t singing Jingle Bells, staring at the decorations on our tree or reading her tiny advent calendar books, she’s asking to go see if the inflatable Santa down the street is “awake”. Maverick is also in the spirit of the season as he has learned to crawl and has taken a liking to every tree decoration 16 inches off the ground. I can’t believe Christmas is less than 10 days days, ready or not, here it comes! Ho ho ho!
Nearly every day, Compass’s Leonard Steinberg puts together a handful of real estate news bits that are always so interesting I have to share some of my favorites of the week. To receive these every day from Leonard, please click [_here](mailto:ls@compass.com “”) and include your full name and email address to get on his mailing list.
* CoStar now owns MATTERPORT in a $1,6 billion acquisition…..as they ramp up their quest to outseat Zillow? CoStar now owns HOMES.com and Apartments.com…and TenX (formerly Auction.com)….and Homesnap.com….
* Want to read more about successful auction-brokerage? COMPASS’ preferred AUCTION vendors Paramount and DeCarro have already had multiple success stories. Click HERE as the LUXURY AT COMPASS division addresses this important service.
* In the decade to 2020, the population grew by around 7.4%, the weakest decade of growth since the Great Depression. The population is expected to settle at a growth rate of only 1 million per year by the end of this decade. For context, the average population growth rate in the 1990s was over 3 million people per year. This is just a taste of what’s to come. By the 2050s, the Census Bureau forecasts the population inching higher by a mere 350k per year, not far off where it fell to during the depths of the pandemic. (Home-Economics, Aziz Sunderji)
* Love those Snoafers? Snoafers could become a city-pavement-walking real estate agent’s best friend……it’s a hybrid of sneaker and loafer by New Balance, ie: a shoe that is really comfortable! (WSJ)
* Flooding in the United Arab Emirates’ city of Dubai last week illustrates a simple climate change problem the modern world has not fixed: lack of drainage. Expect local municipalities to tighten building codes on drainage requirements. Dubai received over 10 inches of rain in areas last week….rumors of cloud seeding were denied by the government. Always a good idea to remind your clients to maintain their drainage systems by keeping them clear of debris and blockages. (CNBC)
* Game-flation? Americans legally bet a record $119.84 billion on sports in 2023, up from $93 billion in 2022. That’s up about 29% in one year…. (Business Insider)
* A Smart City index produced by the IMD World Competitiveness Center’s Smart City Observatory in collaboration with the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) based in Seoul, South Korea ranks 142 smart cities worldwide based on data analyzed by researchers and survey responses of 120 residents in each city capturing an overview of how the infrastructure and technology available in a city impacts the city’s performance and quality of life of its inhabitants. The Top 10 were: Zuirch, Oslo, Canberra, Geneva, Singapore, Copenhagen, Lausanne, London, Helsinki and Abu Dhabi. (CNBC)
* 46.8% of luxury homes that were bought during the three months ending Feb. 29 were paid for in cash, the highest percentage in at least 10 years and a 44.1% increase from 2023. (Barrons)