WELCOME, WELCOME to Alain Pinel Realtors who over the past 30 years have become leaders in the Bay Area, known for their luxury offering and strong culture. 

DID YOU KNOW? More than 50% of the executives recently surveyed by KPMG said Silicon Valley will cease to dominate global tech innovation within the next 4 years, as New York, Boston, Beijing, London and other cities continue their evolution into tech innovation powerhouses, citing factors that include an expansion of tech investing in cities and regions outside of San Jose, Palo Alto and Menlo Park, Calif. Their top pick for the next leading source of technology innovation was New York—up from No. 3 in 2018—followed by Beijing, Tokyo and London. Other U.S. cities that ranked in the top 10 were Boston and Austin, Texas. Washington, D.C., placed 13th. 23% named the U.S. as having the biggest global impact on technology, down from 34% in a similar survey last year. (WSJ)

DID YOU KNOW?  Speak to any developer or builder and they will let you know how their costs have risen in the past 12 months: American consumers have been saddled with $69 billion in added costs because of the tariffs the U.S. imposed in 2018, including on $250 billion on Chinese imports as well as levies on steel and aluminum, according to a study released by a quartet of economists working on a National Science Foundation grant. (WSJ)

DID YOU KNOW? About 63% of the world’s wealthiest said they grew richer in 2018, thanks in part to stock market gains and global economic growth. These individuals also expect their wealth to increase over the next year. Confidence was highest in the U.S., where 80% of individuals worth $30 million and more expect to be better off over the next year. Over 47,000 people in the USA are worth $30 million plus. (WSJ) 

DID YOU KNOW?  I have personally never witnessed more creative photography angles than those being used to photograph 220 Central Park South - the uber-tower that houses the USA's most expensive penthouse sale:  all are either blocking out - or photo-shopping out - it's next door neighbor that looms several hundred feet taller.....

DID YOU KNOW? Bigger state and local tax collections, propelled in part by an acceleration in sales-tax receipts from consumer spending, is boosting capital projects and driving a municipal borrowing boom. Spending on transportation infrastructure in October was up 15% from a year earlier. State tax revenues grew 6.3% in the second quarter of 2018 compared with an average second-quarter growth rate of 2.5% for the previous eight years Local infrastructure spending may accelerate. (WSJ)

DID YOU KNOW? Apple is also expanding its presence in San Diego as part of its plan to expand its operations across the country. While its $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas made headlines this week, it will also "establish new sites" in San Diego, Seattle, and Culver City, California. The San Diego, Seattle and Culver City sites would each have more than 1,000 workers, Apple announced. Apple will add 20,000 jobs in the U.S. by 2023. (10news)

DID YOU KNOW? Approximately 80% of all population growth since 2000 in Texas has been in the four large metropolitan areas: Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and Houston. Between 2000 and 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, Austin expanded its employment by over 50%, while Houston, Dallas and San Antonio grew above 30%, more than twice the growth of New York and three time that of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Texas added 3 million people between 2010 and 2016 - including 940,000 migrants from other states. In comparison, California lost more than 500,000 domestic migrants to other states and New York lost nearly one million.  Since 2000, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston grew by under 10%. (Daily Beast)

“We don’t have any of the early signs of recession. Yet, we have a market where despite 20% earnings growth, the price-earnings ratios have fallen 20%. This tells us the market is pricing in recession in 2019. We just don’t think that is going to happen.” - Steve Chiavarone, Federated

 DID YOU KNOW? New York, Connecticut, Louisiana, California, Florida, and Massachusetts ranked worst in income inequality. The fastest growing income inequality is in Montana, California, Maine, Rhode Island and Idaho. (CNBC)

In George H. W. Bush's famous "thousand points of light" nomination acceptance speech on August 18, 1988, he called for a "kinder, gentler nation" specifically referring to volunteering and giving back. In his lifetime it is estimated he helped raise around $1 billion for various charities. As we all know, this past week President George H. W. Bush passed away. While you may or may not have agreed with his politics, one of his principals everyone can relate to - especially at Compass where Robert made this a cornerstone of his future vision for the company - is the concept of working together and giving back.

DID YOU KNOW? Airbnb will soon announce that it will begin selling multi-unit buildings and houses next year, according to Fast Company. Called Backyard, is "an endeavor to design and prototype new ways of building and sharing homes," extending and bolstering their services to architecture and urban planning. Backyard could start offering small existing dwellings, according to the report, and could also sell energy-efficient building materials, stand-alone homes and multi-unit complexes. Airbnb has more than 5 million rental listings on its platform, across nearly 200 countries.

DID YOU KNOW?  Microsoft regained its stature as the world's most valuable company after losing the title for 16 years, beating out APPLE whose stock price has dropped badly over the past few weeks. Apple lost the top spot after 6 years. GE used to have this title....(CNBC)

DID YOU KNOW? Home price appreciation continues to moderate following a half-decade of strong growth. Market fundamentals, however, are vastly different than the pre-crisis period in the mid-2000s. US equities delivered a strong week despite the sharp oil price decrease with the S&P 500 jumping nearly 4%: lower-than-expected PCE inflation data and signs that the Fed may be easing their rate hike plan....which would be good for real estate. (Seeking Alpha)

DID YOU KNOW? U.S. consumer spending increased by the most in 7 months in October. (Reuters)

DID YOU KNOW?  Pending US Home Sales slid 2.6% in October. Contract signings were down 6.7% compared to 2017. Pending sales rose in the NORTHEAST by 0.7%. In the MIDWEST sales fell 1.8%, in the SOUTH they fell 1.1%, and in the WEST they were down 8.9%. (MARKET WATCH)

DID YOU KNOW? Millennial spending habits are a lot like the generations that came before them, they just have less money at this point in their lives. The group born between 1981 and 1997 has fallen behind because many of them came of age during the financial crisis. (Business Insider)

DID YOU KNOW?  The Fed is expected to raise interest rates a fourth time this year in December but stated it would be 'flexible' on plans to raise rates. (CNN)

DID YOU KNOW? The Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve have proposed loosening real-estate appraisal requirements to enable a majority of U.S. homes to be bought and sold without being evaluated by a licensed human appraiser, potentially opening the door for cheaper, faster, untested property valuations based on computer algorithms. It would increase to $400,000, from $250,000, the value of homes that can be bought and sold without a human appraiser visiting a property. (WSJ)