New Life Science and Retail Trends, A hobbit home

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⚡ Snapshot: The 30 Yr. VA posted the largest daily gain (+0.04%), while all other loan types edged slightly higher, continuing a gentle upward trend across the board.

Health insurance costs hit $27K per family, up 4x since 1999 link

• The average US family now pays $6,850 annually for health insurance, while employers contribute $20,143, bringing total costs to nearly $27,000 per year.

• That’s a fourfold increase since 1999, when combined premiums were just $5,800, highlighting how healthcare inflation continues to outpace wage growth.

• Rising premiums are quietly eroding household disposable income, a key factor behind tighter consumer budgets and slower housing affordability recovery.

My take: Health costs are eating into the same paycheck that funds rent and mortgages. For housing investors, this squeeze on take-home income is another reason affordability may stay under pressure even if rates ease.

Life sciences vacancy plateaus at 23.4%, absorption turns positive link

• Lab and R&D vacancy across the top 13 life sciences markets edged up to 23.4% in Q3, driven by speculative completions, while average asking rents slipped 2% to $70.42 per sq. ft.

• Net absorption turned positive at 938,000 sq. ft. after two soft quarters, though total leasing volume fell 15% to 2.3 million sq. ft., signaling a slow but stabilizing market.

• Construction pipelines are tightening with 5.9 million sq. ft. underway, 57% preleased, and venture funding held steady at $5.9B, down less than 1% quarter-over-quarter.

My take: The correction phase in life sciences real estate looks to be bottoming out. Positive absorption and stable funding point to early signs of balance after two years of oversupply.

Retail CRE investment jumps 43% YoY, cap rates compress as sales hit $16.1B link

• Q3 retail investment sales rose 43% year over year to $16.1B, with total capital markets activity at $45.8B, values up 3.5% and average cap rates tightening to 6.84% from 7.15% as the lending–cap-rate gap narrowed to 62 bps.

• Fundamentals improved but remain mixed: net absorption turned positive at 1.1M sq. ft., availability is 5.3% versus a 6.6% long-term average, yet quarterly leasing volume was 31.1M sq. ft., about 30% below the 10-year norm.

• Bifurcation is clear: Sunbelt markets led absorption, while rents declined quarter over quarter and year over year for the first time in a decade, weighed by 260M sq. ft. of older space that now makes up 48% of availabilities.

My take: Capital is rotating back into retail, but leasing is selective. Investors should lean into Sunbelt and necessity-led formats while discounting legacy space with long marketing times.

Zombie foreclosures fall to 3.25%, vacancies hit four-year low at 1.3% link

• About 1.4 million U.S. homes sat vacant in Q4 2025, down slightly from last quarter, while just 7,448 were classified as “zombie” foreclosures—homes abandoned before proceedings finish.

• States with the sharpest zombie declines included Oklahoma (down 23%), California (down 12%), and Indiana (down 13%), while small upticks appeared in Oregon, Nevada, and Ohio.

• Investor-owned homes remain more likely to be empty, with 3.5% vacant versus 3.3% nationally, led by Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama.

My take: The data shows distress is contained even as foreclosures rise. With vacancy near record lows, there’s little sign of systemic weakness in housing supply or demand.

San Diego medical office rents climb as Class A demand rises link

• Average medical office rents in San Diego hit $4.28 per sq. ft. full-service gross in Q3, rising alongside demand for Class A space as vacancy tightens to near 8%, far below the 20–30% seen in traditional offices.

• JLL reports that stabilized interest rates and easier financing are fueling a wave of owner-user acquisitions, led by healthcare providers seeking to hedge against rising rents.

• Investors are also moving in, with institutional capital eyeing medical offices as outpatient care growth and demographic shifts turn the once-niche asset class into a core real-estate play.

Tool of the day: Baselane

AI-powered platform that automates rent, banking, and bookkeeping for landlords.

BatchData Unveils AI Tool That Predicts Home Sales With 63% Accuracy link

PR Newswire reports that BatchData launched BatchRank, an AI-powered scoring system that analyzes over 800 property data points to predict which homes will sell within 6–12 months. Early tests show 63% accuracy, allowing agents, lenders, and insurers to target high-probability sellers before listings hit the market.

iKenekt AI and QuoteWizard Team Up to Build Unified Homebuying Platform link

PR Newswire reports that iKenekt AI has partnered with QuoteWizard by LendingTree to create an AI-powered ecosystem connecting property search, financing, insurance, and closing into one seamless platform. The collaboration marks iKenekt’s first move into consumer real estate, integrating real-time analytics, lender matching, and insurance access to simplify and accelerate the entire homebuying journey.

US Real Estate Firms Turn to AI to Boost Analyst Efficiency link

AI Magazine reports that US real estate firms are using AI-driven analytics to unify fragmented data from PMS, spreadsheets, and operator reports, helping analysts forecast rent trends, detect cost leakages, and automate investor reporting.

Top AI Use Cases Reshaping Real Estate in 2026 link

Edward Jonathan highlights how AI is driving the next wave of real estate innovation — from instant property valuations and predictive investment analytics to smart buildings that cut energy costs by 30%. AI-powered tools are also automating property management, optimizing tenant experiences, and shortening sales cycles through virtual staging and forecasting.

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Outpatient care is booming, redefining what medical real estate looks like

Office fundamentals are plateauing, with vacancy holding near 19%

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An energy-efficient Earth Sheltered Hobbit Home

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Vidit

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