Atlanta Pushes Developers For More Amenities, Density And Accountability

Political backlash against environmental, social and governance investing is on the rise amid calls by the Securities and Exchange Commission to mandate climate reporting, with several prominent Republican leaders pushing back on what they call a new front in the "woke agenda."

Commercial real estate, an industry that has led ESG efforts as one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions, has largely shrugged off the rhetoric so far. That rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent weeks, with some opponents going so far as to penalize companies that promote environmental or social action.

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The country is short millions of homes, and as interest rates keep would-be homeowners as tenants, rents are climbing to new highs. The median apartment rent in Manhattan hit $4,150 in July, for example, the sixth-straight month a new record high has been set in the city.

On this episode of Bisnow Reports, Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather talks about the ongoing national housing crisis, the Federal Reserve's measures to bring down inflation and why some homeowners push so hard against zoning changes that would allow for the development of more affordable housing at a wide scale.

“A lot of homeowners, when they buy a home, they are not just buying the home, they are buying the neighborhood, and they feel the neighborhood should be identical to the way it was when they bought it forever,” Fairweather said on the podcast. “I think that is just a misplaced entitlement. It’s unfortunate that homeowners can band together to make it a lot harder for other people to have access to the housing that they had access to.”

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