The Berkeley Blog

After an entire year of upheaval caused by Covid-19, companies like Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson have set our country on the path to health through their vaccinations. The vaccinations have been rolling out well, but there is a disparity in the distribution when it comes to rural America. Some parts of the country do not have proper access to medical facilities and pharmacies, and this is slowing down the process of vaccinating adults

Last March, workers packed up on the fly and headed home for what they thought would be a few weeks at home with the threat of Covid-19 looming. One full year later, the temporary thoughts of remote work have been replaced by the idea that working from home is here to stay, at least for a while. Because many large companies are continuing the remote work, companies and politicians are trying to create some policies and procedures to make remote learning

The pandemic has turned the nation upside down and changed the way of life for most Americans. Remarkably, the positive trends for multifamily investing have been holding strong. Over the last five years, investment into non-major markets has increased 13.9%. Aside from the fact that there are more metros to choose from, and therefore more quality investment opportunities, investors are realizing that there is more value to be found in smaller

Family Offices have one consistent goal: to help wealthy families preserve and grow their wealth across generations. Increasingly important to that goal is an allocation to real estate investments. The trend favoring exposure to real estate began a few years ago, but the pandemic is accelerating the situation. With plenty of dry powder and a long-range goal in mind, many family office investors are taking another look at real estate as a viable option for wealth management.

Over a year ago, China locked down Wuhan to save its citizens from SARS-CoV-2 and the ramifications and complications of the virus, however, there is another consequence of the virus to report. This time it is regarding economics, as The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reported that China has taken the lead over the United States for new investments from overseas investors. This comes after a disastrous year for the United States

Commercial real estate experienced a year like no other in 2020. With workers at home, office buildings are sitting vacant. And with the high unemployment numbers, some rent is not getting paid at all, or people are asking for a forbearance. The traditional retail mall and the hospitality industries have been decimated. But there has been some good news: some commercial real estate has become a desirable commodity because of the expanding need for space in the

In addition to changing the way people live, work, and purchase everything from groceries to computers, the pandemic has had a profound impact on the mortgage rates. Although it seems counterintuitive, record low mortgages have been a real bright spot in an otherwise arduous journey and economy throughout 2020. But the low mortgage rates have swung the pendulum to high buyer demand, and that is just one reason it is likely

The world economy has always placed the dollar at the top of the currency pile. But because of China’s positive response to the global pandemic and the pandemic’s subsequent hit on the world financial markets, the yuan is rapidly gaining ground. “We are extremely bullish on emerging markets, which is fundamentally based on the view the Chinese economy will be strong in 2021 and that China has done a great job dealing with the virus,” John

Ten months into the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus, and clearly the effects are being felt all across the country, including in the commercial real estate business. The entire country has changed long-established habits of shopping in strip malls, going to work, and buying groceries in person. Underlying these lifestyle changes are the buildings themselves, in which people live, work, and shop (or used to). After nearly a year of coronavirus lifestyle

For many westerners, the idea that the United States will not continue as the leaders of the world economy is unthinkable. But recent reports from The Center for Economics and Business Research show that there will soon be a new sheriff in town. One major reason for this is the struggle with COVID-19 over the past 10 months. The economic fallout caused by the pandemic has led to forecasters predicting that China will overtake the economy of the United

What do New York City; Seattle; Pryor, Oklahoma; and Arlington, Virginia all have in common? These are the homes of the newest hot spot real estate buys for the big five tech companies: Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Google. In a time when the country is dealing with lockdowns and the uncertain health protocols and the nation’s economic future, these technology powerhouses are getting ready to house the employees and tech of

This week the vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus which caused the COVID-19 pandemic, is being rolled out throughout the country. For ten months COVID-19 has spread throughout the world, killing 1.6 million people worldwide and 300,000 in the United States alone. The vaccine could not have come at a better time, as the holidays are upon us and millions are traveling. The first recipients of the vaccine will be frontline workers in the healthcare

All they had to do was ride out a few more weeks until graduation, and they would have the golden ticket: a diploma, a new job, the means to pay off student loans, and a steppingstone to the future of their dreams. But when the pandemic shut down the country early this spring, it took the hopes of the graduating class of 2020 with it. Many had already been hired, or were poised to land a job, with internship experience in hand. But the pandemic’s swinging hammer to the economy

Joe Biden knows what it is like to be part of the sandwich generation, stuck in the middle, with both aging parents and children to take care of. And when he takes office in a few short weeks, he wants to work to take the burden off those who are aging and those who are caring for them.

There is nothing more American than apple pie, baseball, and the dream of buying a new home. For many years, however, this dream of becoming a homeowner has been just out of reach for many citizens. Recently, the dream has become more attainable, and both buying and selling homes has increased.

There is no question that a catastrophic global event such as the coronavirus pandemic affects the world economy. With people stuck in their homes during the spring lockdown, buying and selling ground to a virtual halt. Big businesses hid their cash, families stopped spending, the hotel and travel industry was decimated.

When the coronavirus came hurtling to the west coast of the United States early this year, cascading eastward, it brought with it a secondary virus: economic disaster. Much of the country went into lockdown, shuttering restaurants, bars, health clubs, spas, salons, and any business not deemed “essential.”

The past week has been a big one for China’s trade relations, with Xi Jinping and his advisors opening up the world’s second largest economy through the Regional Economic Partnership of Southeast Asia. This connection has been 40 years in the making. In 1978, Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution

In an ever-changing modern world, where technology is king and the COVID-19 pandemic has spun the business world into a realm never seen before, successful leadership is the key to victory. And the best kind of leader in 2020 is a person who leads with humility, grace, and resilience. Long gone are the tough-minded bosses filled with bravado.

We are in a time of extraordinary uncertainty and turmoil which, as we have seen before, the markets don’t like. There are a lot of numbers and figures floating around, particularly those relating to stock market performance, which provide a false picture of how the economy is performing right now.

A few days ago, lawmakers presented their opinion regarding a potential breakup of tech giants, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, citing stringent antitrust laws and enforcement measures. As per their argument, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google now hold monopoly power that they utilize to erase competition and mute innovation by others.

The economic impact of Coronavirus is being felt all over the world in all industries. There’s an inevitable economic recession in the cards, and several industries are already beginning to indicate the signs. The United States is no different, and the U.S. commercial-backed securities market, in particular, is taking a battering.

COVID-19 has hit the American economy like no other shock in the past. While the comparison is not exact, the world has looked to the previous crisis of 2008 for guidance on how to deal with such shocks. The federal government issued a support package for businesses and families of around $2.4 trillion.

For several years now, there has been much controversy over how investment performance is measured in the private equity world. In an economy increasingly clouded by uncertainty, investors need to know that returns for a prospective investment are an accurate measure of performance.

The stock market might be acting like the biggest rollercoaster at the county fair, but publicly traded stocks and bonds are no longer the only game in town. We’re in the midst of seeing a paradigm shift from mainstream, publicly accessible markets, like stocks and bonds, to private capital.

As some states are forced to pause their re-opening plans because of surging COVID-19 cases, the question must be asked: Are we on the brink of another 2008 for banks that do a bulk of their business in real estate loans?

China is one of just eight nations in the world to possess more than 100 nuclear warheads in its military arsenal. Along with the other seven – India, Israel, Pakistan, France, UK, Russia, and the US – that means that at any time, if it was so inclined, it could destroy the world by launching [...]

The coronavirus might be here to stay, but that doesn’t mean that people are committed to riding it out in their big-city residences. A staggering one-third of Americans – some 109 million people – are at least considering a move to a place with a less dense population after the last 10 weeks of the [...]

The big name in delivery is Amazon, which normalized the idea of unlimited and free single-day shipping. They seem to be dominating the e-commerce game, but a new big and familiar competitor is set to shake up the board: Walmart. Walmart has long been a retail giant, but their recent foray into online shopping has [...]

Though reporting from China suggested new coronavirus cases may have been shrinking, new data from the beginning of February added 14,840 new infections from the Hubei province, the largest one-day increase so far recorded. According to the New York Times, the total number is now at 48,206. As of writing, 1,310 deaths have been recorded. [...]