LaSalle Investment Management

The balance of virtual and in-person interaction is close to a post-pandemic steady state. So we observed in our  ISA Outlook 2023 , where we called this out as one of our key global themes for the year. We pointed out that after a long​ period of gradual improvement in office attendance, the rate of change has substantially leveled off, with weekly office visits stabilizing below 50% in many US m...

After nearly three years of enforcing a comprehensive approach to COVID-19, involving frequent testing, rigorous contact tracing and strict border quarantines, China unexpectedly ended its zero-COVID policy in early December 2022. After an initial period of surging new infections, by mid-January 2023 the situation had improved substantially. Most recently, cases have fallen sharply as the virus ha...

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank failed. Regulators hastily arranged the sale of Credit Suisse to UBS. Concerns spread about numerous other small and major global banks including Deutsche Bank. Recent events have raised fears that the global economy is in for a credit crunch of unknown magnitude and duration. As we release our first  LaSalle Macro Quarterly (LMQ) , a revamp of our long...

Inflation,   energy and real estate Inflation has moved rapidly from overlooked to top-of-mind this year. For the past eight months, many different types of price movements have received significant attention among economists, central bankers and real estate owners and occupiers. Global supply chain bottlenecks and pandemic-related fiscal and monetary stimulus have all contributed to pri...

The last day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere was September 22nd, and cooler temperatures will surely be welcomed by many. Europe and China recorded their hottest-ever summers since recordkeeping began in 1880, according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Meanwhile, the US recorded its third-hottest summer by the same metric. Our recent report, “How to Choose, Use and Be...

An unrelenting wave of macro news amidst record-breaking heat has carried through all of 2022 to the start of August. With persistent high inflation readings (p.13), energy price volatility and supply disruption (p. 20), interest rate hikes (p. 4), bear equity markets (p. 8), heightened recession risk (p. 3), and VC capital slowing (p. 7) – the post-COVID recovery cycle is at risk. Yet August, wit...

The Transition from Acute to Chronic Stress Three months after the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the fighting and destruction continues. Our March macro deck focused on the ensuing volatility of equity markets, consumer prices and energy costs. In June, there is no sign of the conflict abating, volatility in the capital markets remains high, and energy costs continue to edge upward. As the situ...

The news from Ukraine is disturbing and relentless. Lurking under the headlines are dramatic economic gyrations -- higher interest rates, higher inflation, successive waves of “risk-off” and “risk-on” market sentiment, yield curve changes, and rising commodity prices. This volatility should not go unnoticed; it is the focus of our April Macro Deck.

Russia’s incursion into Ukraine began in the early hours of February 24th and has progressed rapidly and violently every day since, showing that “frozen” conflicts can heat up quickly.  The gravity of the situation for Ukraine’s people and seriousness of the risks to the post-Cold War geopolitical order cannot be overlooked.  The geopolitical tremors of Russia’s action and the West’s san...

Over one fifth of the world’s population celebrate Lunar New Year on February 1st, 2022 – the most important holiday on the calendar for many Asian cultures, particularly the Chinese. We are heading into a year of the Water Tiger which occurs every 60 years. In China, the tiger is considered the king of all beasts, symbolizing strength and bravery. China is certainly making a strong and brave move...

January 2022 Retrospective Indicators & Prospective Trends As capital market volatility rises and the pandemic enters its third year, the role of strategy is especially important to set a course and to stay on track. The macro themes in the 2022 edition of LaSalle’s Investment Strategy Annual are summarized in our first macro deck of the new year. These five trends provide a road map for navig...

The macro themes in the 2022 edition of LaSalle’s Investment Strategy Annual , provide a road map for navigating real estate markets around the world in the years ahead. We focus on five major trends, summarized below. 1. The Endemic Economy In 2022-24, we foresee an economy that continues to recover and generally acts as a tailwind for real estate recovery. The exact timing of the transition from...

LaSalle’s November 2021 Macro Indicators

Housing Market Meets Policy Headwind: Recent Lessons from Evergrande The story of China’s Evergrande Group, one of the country’s largest and highly-leveraged developers, continues to develop by the day. As of early October, we see a low probability of systematic risk in the global financial system due to Evergrande’s financial troubles.  The company’s debt problems are likely to be carefully...

From Pandemic to Endemic: The Delta Variant Transition As the Delta variant becomes dominant worldwide and forces some countries to reimpose restrictions, we ask a crucial question: What impact on consumer and investor behaviour will COVID-19, and its existing and future variants, have in the long run? The good news is that most experts agree that current vaccines are highly effective against seve...

LaSalle’s August 2021 Macro Indicators The Rising Threat of Extreme Weather In recent weeks, many records have been broken. We aren’t referring to the Tokyo Olympics but to record-setting heat, floods and fires in many parts of the world.  Record heat in western North America, record rainfall in Germany and the Benelux countries, and near-record rainfall in Henan Province, China remind us tha...

The Great Re-opening Gains Momentum The pandemic gave us time to reconsider our lives, our work, our relationships with families, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. It also fundamentally changed how we interact with technology and with our surroundings - in both the natural and built environments. For real estate investors, the pandemic rocked the foundation of the asset class. Yet, as our Mid-Ye...

Inflationary Pressure is Building Real estate’s reputation for inflation protection will be tested in the months to come.  Several different types of inflation have already climbed into view:  Asset price inflation came first, followed by a spike in building material and energy costs. Next in line are labour and housing costs, and a broad range of consumer and producer prices that are al...

Taxing Times Call For Taxing Measures Taxation is typically a national or local issue, not a global one. However, the runaway success of technology companies and, in recent years, online retailers has elevated the topic to the international arena. The pandemic has increased tech companies’ market-leading positions, as locked-down households and businesses availed themselves of on-line products and...

Opening Days Narrator: Richard Kleinman, Head of Americas Research The April edition of the Macro deck includes more optimistic signs than many of our previous statistical summaries of the past year. Perhaps this sense of optimism is in part driven by the fact many of the contributors to this Macro deck live in Chicago, where flowers are emerging after a rough winter and vaccinations will reported...

Learning from Asia Pacific Narrated by: Elysia Tse, Head of Research & Strategy (Asia Pacific) and Dennis Wong, Senior Strategist (Asia Pacific) 

Year of the Ox, Year of the Vax Narrated by: Dominic Silman, Data Strategist and Brian Klinksiek, Head of European Research and Global Portfolio Strategies February 12th marks the beginning of the Year of the Ox in the Lunar Calendar. In Chinese culture, Oxen are known for diligence, dependability, and determination. These are traits we will all need to rely on in the coming months while vaccine d...

LaSalle Research - Narrators: Jacques Gordon, Global Head of Research & Strategy and Dan Mahoney, Managing Director &Investment Strategist Our January Macro Indicators deck provides a summary of relative real estate performance in 2020 and an update on the pandemic, vaccine, and financial market indicators likely to drive real estate demand and pricing in 2021. The tug of war between long-...

ISA 2021 The macroeconomic, political, and social outlook that sets the stage for investment plans and strong performance are the focus of the Investment Strategy Annual. The pandemic and the ensuing global recession raise the importance and difficulty of these tasks. Even as vaccine distribution gets underway, it will be many months before inoculations are readily available to the general public...

LaSalle Research - Narrators: Brian Klinksiek, Head of European Research and Global Portfolio Strategies and Simon Marx, Head of UK Research & Strategy