The Millennial generation now makes up a sizable 38% of the nation’s home buying market, outpacing all other age groups, according to just-released figures from the National Association of Realtors. In a new study, Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends, it is noted that the huge Baby Boom generation, the birth of which spans the years 1946 to 1964, has seen a notable decline in home buying this year, dropping from the 39% they represented in 2023 to 31% now. Demographers have noted that both groups are huge and will dominate both home buying and overall consumer trends for the immediate years to come, but the Millennials, representing roughly 88 million people, are undoubtedly the ones to watch. The increase in Millennial home buying, said Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist with the NAR, is largely attributable to “both younger Millennials stepping into homeownership for the first time, and older Millennials transitioning to larger homes that suite their evolving needs.” The NAR report also notes a larger increase in first-time buyers this year, spanning all generations, with 32% securing a home for the first time—up from 26% in 2023. In that category, perhaps not surprisingly, were the Millennials, comprising a very large 70% to 75% of the first-time market. The new report also underlines the emergence of Generation Z, or those born between 1995 and 2010, as a real estate market force. “Their demographics are emerging distinctly from other age groups,” remarked Lautz of the Generation Z buyers. “More than half are single buyers, outpacing all age groups of single men and single women, and they are almost most likely to identify as LGBTQ+.” On the selling side, the Baby Boomers remain dominant, accounting for 45% of all generational sellers. The Boomers, said Lautz, are largely making their selling decisions based on moving into retirement living situations, right sizing their housing, or moving closer to relatives. The Boomers are also a careful demographic: “Benefiting from longer periods of homeownership compared to other generations,” they approach transactions with “substantial equity, enabling strategic housing trades.” Various studies have indicated that Millennials are willing to spend, even lavishly, for luxury items, but a report issued last month by the site Civic Science also revealed a generational thriftiness: some 35% of Millennials regularly shop at a Family Dollar or Dollar Tree, compared with less than 10% of the Baby Boomers. By Garry Boulard
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A nearly 120-year-old, three-story house in downtown Grand Junction may soon be repurposed as transitional housing for new city employees. The structure, located at 756 Chipeta Avenue, is distinguished by its Victorian architecture and wrap-around front veranda. The has been previously listed for sale by the Carbondale, Colorado-based realtor Aspen Glenwood. Now members of the Grand Junction City Council have voted in favor of submitting a $749,000 bid to buy the nearly 5,500-square-foot property. The purpose of the bid is to secure housing space for newly hired city employees in a part of Colorado where the average rent for a one-bed apartment is at the $1,600 mark, up from around $980 a decade ago. The ongoing rent increases in Grand Junction have made it difficult to recruit workers, particularly those who might be employed by either the city police or fire department. According to sources, if the bid for the home is accepted, it will be divided into multiple properties to create as much new transitional housing space as possible. The $749,000 bid is itself a reflection of growing real estate prices in Grand Junction. According to the site Zillow, the home was listed for $395,000 a decade ago. For most of the early 20th century the building was the home to prominent Grand Junction businessman James Purcell, with its first-floor parlor open to any number of musicales and both literary and social club events. By Garry Boulard Progress is being made in an effort to build a museum paying homage to one of the most ingenious initiatives in U.S. military history. The Navajo Code Talkers was comprised of Native American soldiers who used their language to send secret tactical messages during World War II. The language proved entirely bewildering to the Nazi military command which never, despite repeated attempts, was able to decipher it. Using the language of not just the Navajo people, but also the Comanche, Hopi, and Meskwaki tribes, the code talkers and their efforts in the war have since been lauded by historians and presidents. Now, an effort to see the completion of a museum just outside Gallup honoring the Code Talkers is receiving new state funding. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has given her signature to a capital outlay of around $1.5 million, earlier approved by state lawmakers to support the project. The Governor has long been supportive of the effort, remarking of the Code Talkers two years ago: “Their steadfast service to a Nation that had systematically underserved and undervalued Indigenous people is a true testament to their character and a debt that we will never be able to repay fully.” The project received an initial $1 million in state funding in 2019 to go primarily for the design of the new facility, followed by an additional $6.4 million in 2023. An exhibition by the American Institute of Architects subsequently revealed a schematic design for the project on some 300 acres blending “the architecture, the land, and the Navajo People’s resilient culture.” Earlier estimates have suggested that it may ultimately cost as much as $46.6 million to complete the museum. Officials with the project have said that, to that end, they are also seeking private support. By Garry Boulard States throughout the West are now in line to receive hundreds of millions in federal funding for a wide variety of climate change-resistant infrastructure projects. The funding has been announced by the Department of Transportation and takes in some 80 projects nationally that have secured up to $830 million in grant awards. In announcing the awards, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg remarked that extreme weather events are “damaging America’s transportation infrastructure, cutting people off from getting where they need to go, and threatening to raise the cost of goods by disrupting supply chains.” The funding includes planning grants, resilience improvement grants, funds for the enhancement of evacuation routes, and funding for the strengthening or relocation of coastal highways. In Arizona, Coconino County is getting $15.5 million for a project designed to prepare highway infrastructure for withstanding post-wildfire flooding. The project is specific to U.S. Route 89, which slices through reservation land belonging to the Hopi and Navajo tribes. In Colorado, Denver is getting exactly $4 million to improve roadway resiliency in the low-income neighborhood of Ruby Hill; while Aurora is slated to receive $10.8 million to reconstruct a flood-damaged intersection. An additional Colorado project is seeing $23.8 million going to the City of Golden to control flooding in the Lena Gulch, which runs adjacent to U.S. Route 40. New Mexico's Dona Ana County, meanwhile, is slated to receive $2 million for a planning project focusing on transportation infrastructure vulnerabilities during an emergency weather event. One of the largest projects nationally is seeing $56.4 million going to the replacement of the Arc of Justice Bridge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which spans the north-to-south Cedar River. That nearly 90-year-old structure has long been regarded as deficient and will be replaced by a cable-style bridge. By Garry Boulard Plans are now finalized for the construction of a series of new electric vehicle charging stations in various parts of Colorado. In announcing funding for the project, a statement released through the offices of Governor Jared Polis remarked: "With more than 100,000 electric vehicles registered in Colorado, and the pace of adoption growing, the expansion of the charging network is necessary to meet consumer demand." State officials have said that they'd like to see at least 940,000 electric vehicles on the road in Colorado by the end of the decade. Altogether, some $21 million in grants will fund the construction of 290 charger ports at nearly 50 different sites throughout the Centennial State. "Colorado is leading the way in the shift to electric vehicles by making them more affordable and ensuring that driving them across our beautiful state is just as easy as driving a gas-powered car," Polis remarked. The funding is coming through the Direct Current Fast-Charging Plazas program, which is a part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. Upon completion, the new facilities will increase by some 28% the number of existing electric charging stations in the state. Polis said the new funding will substantially assist in efforts to make Colorado the "number one state for electric cars, bikes, and buses." Last year Polis signed into law a bill, HB23-1233, designed to update electric code requirements, remove electric vehicle parking restrictions, and provide tax incentives for the construction of new electric vehicle stations. By Garry Boulard After more than three years of trying, a move to build a new professional soccer stadium in Albuquerque is on the verge of becoming reality. Members of the Albuquerque Environmental Planning Commission have now given their unanimous approval to seeing the facility built at the city's spacious Balloon Fiesta Park. The commission vote comes after voters in the city in the fall of 2021 turned down a proposed $50 million bond to build the stadium. In the wake of that defeat, officials with the New Mexico United team vowed to find a new way of building a stadium that could house up to at least 10,000 seats. As planned, the project is expected to be built on some 7 acres to the east of the field where the colorful international balloon fiesta is held every October at 4401 Alameda Boulevard. In a statement, Ron Patel, New Mexico United team owner, remarked: "We still have a lot of work to do with the neighbors, city, and state." But he hailed the commission vote as "an important and positive step to bringing a multi-use stadium to Balloon Fiesta Park." The team, in a lease agreement with the City, has pledged to commit at least $30 million to the building of the facility. According to city documents, the stadium is expected to measure around 185,000 square feet, with a maximum height of 65 feet above pitch level, and a roof overhang that will cover the entire seating bowl. The project, which was approved last November by the Albuquerque City Council, could see work beginning either later this year or in 2025. By Garry Boulard New legislation has been introduced in Congress designed to prohibit the presence of union professionals in the workplace whose sole purposes are to organize workers. “Imagine a scenario where an employee, without the knowledge of their colleagues and employer, is receiving compensation from a union while advocating for its interests within the workplace,” Utah Republican Representative Burgess said in introducing the legislation. “This deception not only breeds suspicion, but also erodes the very foundation of trust and transparency between employers and employees,” Burgess continued in a statement. The legislation is officially called the Start Applying Labor Transparency Act, or SALT Act. If passed it will effectively amend the historic Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Employers have for decades complained about the practice of labor unions recruiting people who end up getting jobs in a given workplace and then begin to talk to fellow workers about joining a union. The process is commonly called “salting.” A person engaged in such practices, notes the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation, “may be overtly direct about their intentions or may use more subtle techniques.” Either way, the person’s role is to “gather information as a company insider and use it in the union organizing campaign.” According to the New York Times, successful labor organizing at such companies as Amazon and Starbucks was in part due to salting. “They typically begin by establishing themselves as loyal colleagues, and then quietly raise the topic of unionizing with co-workers," notes the paper. Last year the publication Labor Notes defended salting, arguing that “when organizing is a de facto illegal act, when workers are fired and victimized by the tens of thousands for exercising their paper right to unionize, salting is the completely justified response.” The SALT Act is now under review in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. By Garry Boulard Growing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Announces Big Facility Plans for Metro Phoenix4/15/2024 Already comprising a major presence in the southern Arizona semiconductor manufacturing world, the company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing appears to be on the verge of adding yet one more factory to its Grand Canyon State footprint. The growing Hsinchu, Taiwan-based company, founded in 1987 and with annual revenues in excess of $35 billion, has in recent months been in the process of building a second manufacturing facility in metro Phoenix. Now, owing to federal funding in the neighborhood of $6.6 billion, the company has announced plans for yet a third facility. Construction of the new plant, remarked White House economic adviser Lael Brainard to reporters, will make Arizona a “hub for innovation,” while also “positioning it to be a world leader for decades.” The funding is coming via the federal Commerce Department and is part of the massive 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The new plant, to go up on the north side of Phoenix near the intersection of Dove Valley Road and 43rd Avenue, will help push TSMC into the upper stratosphere of chip manufacturing. Work on the second $40 billion TSMC Phoenix facility has not been without challenges. A dispute with the Arizona Building and Construction Trades Council, which was finally resolved last year, has been thought to delay the anticipated completion of the facility by at least a year from 2026 to 2027. Other reports have said the plant may not be done until early 2028. TSMC chairman Mark Liu has also pointed to a lack of skilled workers as an additional reason for the second factory’s delayed construction schedule. President Biden has hailed the new federal funding for the third TSMC plant, remaking in a statement from the White House: “These facilities will manufacture the most advanced chips in the world, putting us on track to produce 20% of the world’s leading-edge semiconductors by 2030.” By Garry Boulard Built in 2018, a one-story Starbucks on the growing northeast side of Albuquerque is being listed for as a net-leased single tenant opportunity with an asking price of around $2.1 million. Located at 6707 Jefferson Street NE, the structure is designated as a Class B building and sits on a less than one-acre site. The building, which is located one block from the Lovelace Medical Group facilities, was built during a time of significant Starbucks location growth in the Duke City. The Seattle-based corporation oversaw the construction of five new Albuquerque stores between 2017 and 2018, and today has roughly a dozen locations in the city. With the average Starbucks location measuring anywhere from 1,500 square feet to 2,000 square feet, the Jefferson Street store is on the large side at 2,025 square feet. The listing is being offered by realtor Renz & Renz, which specializes in investment and commercial brokerage and is based in Gilroy, California. Starbucks locations are regularly listed on the market as investment opportunities, with the famous coffee company maintaining operations, no matter who owns the building. Current listings are seeing a 10,600-square-foot Starbucks store for sale in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, with an asking price of $5.4 million; and a 2,400-square-foot Starbucks location in Santa Clarita, California at $3.8 million. By Garry Boulard The Phoenix metro area saw the most construction jobs nationally between February of 2023 and the second month of this year, notes a new industry analysis. According to the Associated General Contractors of America, the Phoenix area, which for the purposes of the study includes the cities of Mesa and Scottsdale, added 7,300 new jobs during that one-year period. Those numbers were far and away the strongest when compared with any other area or region of the country, although the Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas area saw 6,300 new jobs; followed by Baton Rouge with a construction employment gain of 4,400. Altogether, according to the analysis, construction employment was up in 227 metro areas out of a total of 358 studied. In a statement, Ken Simonson observed: “Construction employment has posted steady increases nationally and in most metro areas, but the industry will need even more workers to meet the demand for nearly every project type.” Continued Simonson, who is the AGC’s chief economist, “Construction spending increased more than 10% from February 2023 to February 2024, suggesting the industry will want to hire more workers in many markets.” Among the other big gainers: the Austin-Round Rock region, with 4,300 new jobs; and the swath between Riverside and San Bernadino, California, up by 4,300 jobs. Overall, Arizona saw a 4% increase in construction jobs in the last year, while Colorado was down marginally by 1%, and New Mexico saw a 4% gain. While the most significant job growth was seen in the states of the West, parts of the East coast and Midwest recorded rather startling construction employment losses. New York City was off by 9,800 jobs, followed by a 7,000-job loss in the metro area shared by Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Gotham City decline was partly explained earlier this year by the New York Times, noting that many of New York's most ambitious office building projects are “on hold for the foreseeable future,” resulting in the city potentially not seeing a “significant number of large office towers opening their doors until the 2030s.” Another Midwest construction employment downer was seen in Columbus, Ohio, with a decline of 3,000. Interrupting the East coast/Midwest decline pattern was Denver, which, combined with the cities of Aurora and Lakewood, recorded a loss of 3,100 jobs. By Garry Boulard |
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