December 28, 2018 | U.S. News
Rebecca Lake
Real estate can be a refuge.
Your New Year’s celebrations aren’t complete without a portfolio review. As stocks continue to fizzle and pop, real estate investment strategies may look more promising. Historically, real estate has outperformed the stock market, acting as a stabilizer for investors when volatility takes hold. These eight real estate trends are the ones to watch in 2019…
New construction gets pricier.
Construction prices inched up 0.5 percent in October, reflecting a 7.9 percent increase year-over-year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index. That’s something investors should be watching closely in the year ahead, says Lee Roberts, managing partner of SharpVue Capital in Raleigh, North Carolina. “In addition to supply-demand factors, there is a large policy component to this,” Roberts says. “Not only are interest rates being driven higher by the Fed, but materials costs are being affected in part by trade policy, while labor costs are moving higher in part due to immigration policy.”