Alternative Investing Report - August 23, 2024

_{*as of market close August 22}

Commercial real estate deal volume has picked up, with $117 billion worth of property sold in Q2, a 9% increase year-over-year. This uptick comes after Q1 numbers represented a 17% drop year-over-year. Commercial mortgage originations also rose by 27% compared to Q1, another sign of increasing activity. Meanwhile, in the multifamily sector alone, deal volume rose by 82% in Q2, vacancies stayed flat and rents continued to grow.

➨ TAKEAWAY: The Q2 resurgence could indicate that the market has finally found its bottom in Q1 after a few rough years. This may only be the beginning, as interest rates are poised to fall, which should lead to greater deal volume the rest of the year. This might be the best time to buy before the market heats up again and more competition enters the fray.

Earlier this week, the spot price of gold hit an all-time high, topping $2,530 an ounce, making a standard gold bar of 400 ounces worth more than $1 million. The price has now risen more than 20% so far in 2024, and is up 28% in the last twelve months.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Gold has historically acted as a store of value and typically sees investor demand rise during turbulent geopolitical times. The more recent rise in value is likely tied to the prospect of lower interest rates, as the return on lower-risk assets such as bonds will diminish.

If you aren’t familiar with direct indexing, or you’d like to learn more, check out our in-depth look at it that was released yesterday. It’s index investing with tax advantages and is now available to everyone.

⚾ Ruth jersey hits $18M: Bidding for the 1932 game-worn Babe Ruth jersey from his famed “called-shot” game has exceeded $18 million and looks like it will sell this Saturday as there is no longer a reserve price listed. It’s already the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever, and some observers think the final price will top $30 million.

🚀 Family offices backing startups: As traditional venture capital firms have tightened the purse strings, family offices have started to pick up the slack, making up a greater proportion of startup funding than ever before.

🏡 Home prices nearly flat: U.S. home prices rose by 0.2% in July, the slowest pace since January 2023, and 20 of the biggest 50 metro areas saw price declines. This comes despite the recent drop in mortgage rates and the shortage of homes on the market, meaning the buying demand is also lagging.

🪙 Fewer SEC cases: The SEC has only filed nine crypto-related actions so far in 2024, compared to 35 last year, which could mean that crypto companies are getting better about compliance, or the SEC is taking a less antagonistic view of crypto, or both.

💎 Record-breaking pearl: The Abernethy pearl sold for $123,000 at auction, the highest price ever for a Scottish freshwater pearl, well above the pre-auction high estimate of $77,000.

🪙 Trump’s crypto project: The former president teased an upcoming crypto platform being launched by the Trump Organization called “The DeFiant Ones,” which apparently will be a DeFi project of some kind. Crypto projects often thrive from hype and publicity, which this will certainly have, but they are also notoriously volatile with a high chance of failure.

Monday: 🚀 VC fund performance, 🚘 Monterey car week auctions
Tuesday: 🏡 Kamala’s housing plan, 🎨 Market for young artists
Wednesday: ⚾ Collectibles media coverage, 🚀 Founders under 30
Thursday: 🪙 Crypto and politics, 🚀 Bolt’s wild “fundraise”

Have a great weekend!