Bird Watching (of a Sort)
It’s hardly scientific, but if you want a quick-and-dirty, statistics-free take on the Twin Cities real estate market, do what I did over the weekend: count construction cranes.
Including Downtown Minneapolis, Uptown, and Lake Calhoun (what’s going on at the Calhoun Beach Club??), I counted easily a dozen such multi-story contraptions.
Purely anecdotally, I’d say that translates into a busy (if not overheated) calendar of new construction.
Bullish Indicator — But 2 Caveats
Just two caveats: 1) only commercial — not residential — construction requires cranes, so you’ll have to consult your friendly local Realtor about the health of the local housing market; and 2) the most crane-filled skyline I can recall was Phoenix’s circa 2007 — easily a year after the residential peak (and just before the 2008 melt-down).
Because of their size and lead time — not to mention developers’ propensity to overdo things — commercial real estate projects often lag market turns.
See also, “Enormous Crane Delivered to Vikings Stadium.”
