AXA IM Will Talk About Opportunities Created by Digital Disruption at the Investments & Golf Summit

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AXA IM hablará de disrupción digital en el Investments & Golf Summit
Foto cedidaMatthew Lovatt, Global Head of Framlington Equities, AXA IM. AXA IM Will Talk About Opportunities Created by Digital Disruption at the Investments & Golf Summit

AXA IM will talk about investment opportunities in the evolving economy as a result of the digital disruption at Funds Society’s sixth Investments & Golf Summit.

Changing demographics and technological disruption have accelerated the trend towards thematic investment in recent years as the historical boundaries of sectors have become increasingly less relevant. According to the firm, global equity unconstrained investors looking through this thematic lens can clearly identify the disruptors from the disrupted; or as they term it the ‘old economy,’ where companies maintain more traditional approaches, and the ‘evolving economy,’ which consists of firms who have embraced these fast changes.

AXA’s  Digital Economy strategy is focused on the e-commerce value chain and digital transformation of traditional businesses.

Matthew Lovatt, Global Head of Framlington Equities, AXA IM, will be at the summit to explain everything regarding the strategy. Appointed in June 2018 as Global Head of Framlington Equities,  the active stock picking expertise of AXA IM, Matthew is also a member of the Management Board of AXA IM. Matthew has 30 years of investment experience and joined AXA IM in 2004. He started his career in Equity Research at Henderson, before developing an equity hedge fund business.  He holds a BSc in Economics with Statistics from Bristol University.

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is an active, long-term, global multi-asset manager. We work with clients today to provide the solutions they need to help build a better tomorrow for their investments, while creating a positive change for the world in which we live. With approximately $860 billion in assets under management as of the end of September 2018, AXA IM employs nearly 2,400 employees around the world and operates out of 30 offices across 21 countries. AXA IM is part of the AXA Group, a world leader in financial protection and wealth management.

The sixth edition of  Funds Society’s Investments & Golf Summit will take place on May 6th-8th at the Streamsong Resort and Golf. For registration follow this link.

 

Aberdeen Standard Investments: “Frontier Markets will Generate Good Returns: The Headwinds they Faced in 2018 Have Disappeared”

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Aberdeen Standard Investments: “Los mercados frontera van a generar buenos retornos: han desaparecido los vientos en contra de 2018”
Wikimedia CommonsKevin Daly. Courtesy photo. Aberdeen Standard Investments: "Frontier Markets will Generate Good Returns: The Headwinds they Faced in 2018 Have Disappeared"

Aberdeen Standard Investments currently manages 13 billion dollars in debt from emerging countries. Of these, 195 million come from its border market strategy, which has been underway since September 2013. “There are attractive profitability opportunities in this product by structuring a diversified portfolio of corporate and sovereign bonds in hard currency and debt in local currency,” states Kevin Daly, the asset management company’s Senior Investment Manager in emerging market debt.

In an interview with Funds Society, he assures that this approach allows them to minimize the risks of losses, as they were able to do in 2018, and, at the same time, capture the upside risks, as they forecast for 2019. In that regard, since the beginning of the year, Daly is convinced that the frontier markets will generate good returns during the coming months, since “the headwinds they faced in 2018 have disappeared,” such as the strong growth of the United States, the Fed’s harshness, and concerns about the commercial war.

Daly supports this with the performance of the Aberdeen Standard SICAV I – Frontier Markets Bond Fund, a sicav fund registered in Luxembourg. “So far, everything is going well: it has delivered returns of about 6% so far this year.” The fund obtained a gross negative return of -3.50% in 2018, outperforming the emerging general debt “and most other types of assets.” That figure rises to 8.12% if the average returns since the fund’s creation are taken into account.

The management company points out the short duration of this type of asset and of the fund, with an average of 3.4 years. The fund’s main attraction for investors lies in its ability to generate high revenues: its yield at maturity is 10.1%.

“We manage it with a total-return approach, without comparing ourselves with any reference index and we are committed to a diversified portfolio, which has generated attractive risk- adjusted returns since its creation,” the asset manager points out. According to his account, by not resorting to any reference index, they are not overweight or underweight in countries or regions “per se” but have an allocation limit of 10% per country and another 3% for corporate issuers.

Therefore, the positions of “greater conviction” are those that are around 5% and that, at present, would be countries like Egypt, Nigeria and Ecuador. Daly reveals that the first two provide double-digit returns with stable currencies. Ecuador, meanwhile, “is our strongest debt position in hard currency, as we believe that the country will benefit from the International Monetary Fund’s new support program.” In his opinion, this should help reduce its dependence on market financing.

As for the companies, he points out that there is “great value” in Nigeria and Ukraine. All in all, the portfolio is composed of 68% for debt in hard currency, 14% for corporate debt and 32% in debt in local currency, such as Egypt’s or Nigeria’s. Daly is convinced that the three assets offer attractive value.

The fund is also a good diversification option for Latin American investors who have local individual bonds. For Aberdeen Standard Investments, it can help reduce the volatility of their portfolios and, at the same time, continue to offer high performance.

When asked about the risks faced by these markets, he points out that the largest of them is “idiosyncratic risk”, since frontier bonds and their currencies have historically had a low correlation with US Treasury securities. “Addressing country risk is key to the performance” of this product, says Daly, who says there is an “information gap” when investing in frontier markets.

“Our experience investing in them, which requires continuous diligence and frequent trips to these countries, allows us to take advantage of that gap when it comes to structuring the portfolios,” he says.
 

Vanguard is Preparing to Launch its First Mexican Domiciled ETF

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Vanguard se prepara para lanzar su primer ETF domiciliado en México
Foto cedidaPhoto BIVA. Vanguard is Preparing to Launch its First Mexican Domiciled ETF

Vanguard is seeking approval from local regulators to launch its first Mexican‐domiciled ETF that will seek to track the FTSE BIVA Index, providing investors access to a broad Mexican equity exposure.

This ETF will be the first local investment vehicle launched by Vanguard in Mexico and will complement their current ETF suite of international ETFs cross‐listed in the Mexican International Quotation System.

“The launch of this ETF reinforces Vanguard’s long‐term commitment to the Mexican market. Mexican equities are an important asset class in local portfolios and we strongly believe an ETF structure will enable our clients to efficiently access the local equity market. This product is unique as it seeks to track an inclusive and diversified index while maintaining a strong liquidity profile. Given its inclusiveness, this ETF will best serve investors – from large pension plans to individual investors ‐‐ who are looking to take a long‐term strategic allocation in Mexico.” said Juan Hernandez, Country Manager Vanguard México.

“This is a very exciting time for BIVA, as we are fulfilling our objective of contributing to the promotion, growth and modernization of the Mexican stock market. Receiving Vanguard along with their first local ETF, represents a great honor and reinforces our commitment towards providing investors with innovative products, as well as giving them exposure to companies of all sizes, not just the large ones, but medium and small as well.” Said María Ariza CEO BIVA.

The FTSE BIVA Index is designed to reflect the performance of liquid Mexican companies. The benchmark currently provides an unbiased representation of the Mexican equity universe, including FIBRAS (local REITs). All Mexican equity securities listed in the country are considered, allowing for new issues to be included as the local equity universe expands over time. This enables smaller companies to be part of the index contributing to a broader market liquidity.

BIVA, which is part of CENCOR, is considered among the most advanced stock exchanges due to its technology provided by NASDAQ who powers more than 70 markets worldwide, providing state‐of‐the‐ art standards. Its flagship index FSTE BIVA offers a modern, inclusive and representative benchmark of the Mexican market, comprised by companies of all sizes.

Vanguard has been conducting business in Mexico for more than 10 years. In 2017, the firm opened its first office in Mexico City to better support the Mexican Investors.Vanguard currently offers more than 70 US‐domiciled and UCITS ETFs cross‐listed in Mexico, and is the second largest ETF manager in the country.

If Things Take A Turn For The Worse, Are There Expansionary Measures To Follow Those Adopted By The Central Banks? Modern Monetary Theory

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Si las cosas empeoran, ¿existen medidas expansivas que sigan a las adoptadas por los bancos centrales?: la teoría monetaria moderna
Courtesy photo. If Things Take A Turn For The Worse, Are There Expansionary Measures To Follow Those Adopted By The Central Banks? Modern Monetary Theory

At the start of 2019, we saw a rally in risk assets thanks to the fact that investors have been focused on the more dovish signals coming from the central banks rather than on the weakening growth trend. Recently, the OECD warned that economic outlooks were now weaker in almost all G20 countries, particularly in the euro zone, with the heaviest negative impact being seen in Germany and Italy. The organisation also lowered global growth by -0.2% to 3.3%.

In the last meeting of the ECB, Draghi indicated a weak environment full of uncertainty: the rise in protectionism that has brought about a slowdown in trade and global production; political risk, with an emphasis on Brexit; and the vulnerability of the emerging markets, in particular China. In this regard, Draghi announced new measures. These included maintaining rates unchanged until at least the end of 2019 (in a previous address there had been talk of this going on until the summer. As it is, Draghi will be the first ECB president not to change rates as his mandate ends in October), and a further series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO-III), which would begin in September 2019 and run until March 2021 with a maturity of two years and with a view to facilitating the continued flow of credit in the economy.

The extraordinary measures implemented by the main central banks to overcome the financial crisis are set to take hold. The Fed, which had begun monetary normalization, stopped the expected rate hikes in their tracks and it intends to bring an end to its balance sheet reduction sooner than planned; the Bank of Japan is continuing with quantitative easing and has kept rates around 0% for the last 10 years; and the ECB is implementing new measures in the hope of making the euro zone economy more resistant. 

Although the central banks remain cautious in sticking to monetary normalisation, it seems that the available margin is smaller than when they began. Note the evolution of Draghi’s words, which have gone from his famous saying in 2012: “The ECB will do whatever it takes to preserve the euro, and believe me, it will be enough”, to his words in the last ECB meeting in March 2019 with reference to the economic context: “In a dark room you move with tiny steps. You don’t run, but you do move”. Can you see the difference? It was possible to run at the start, but now we can only take tiny steps.

Better coordination between fiscal and monetary policy would be helpful to the economy during a slowdown. In the US, Trump has already implemented an expansionist fiscal policy following years and economic growth and, in Europe, depending on the results of the European elections in May, there may be more pressure to adopt these fiscal benefits despite the mechanisms agreed to by European countries to contain the deficit and control the debt.

But nowadays the debate in the US focuses on the so-called Modern Monetary Theory, the greatest defenders of which come from within the Democratic party (Bernie sanders, who is leading the polls for the US presidency, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, well-known activist and bright new star in Congress). They essentially propose printing money (or nowadays simply pressing a button) and, instead of buying bonds like during QE, using it to finance social, environmental and infrastructure projects and the like. Proponents of this theory argue that provided they borrow in their own currency and they can print money to cover their obligations, they cannot fail and the limit would depend on rising inflation.

In this scenario, in which fiscal spending would be injected directly into the real economy instead of using a more indirect QE route, inflation should rise. However, everything we know about macroeconomics is being called into question because, until now, the deficits have not caused out-of-control inflation or a flight from the bond markets. Even with this in mind, it seems reasonable that implementing these measures would mean higher debt, which would affect the solvency of countries. Also, with more debt, rates would move upwards and affect bonds and the assets that would predictably do better would be real estate and investments in infrastructure or commodities like gold.

Column by Josep Maria Pon, Director of Fixed Income and Monetary Assets at Crèdit Andorrà Asset Management. Crèdit Andorrà Financial Group Research.

The Fed Will Stop Reducing its Balance in September

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La Fed dejará de reducir los activos en su balance a finales de septiembre
Wikimedia CommonsPhoto: koka_sexton. The Fed Will Stop Reducing its Balance in September

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left rates unchanged and lowered its economic forecasts. Moving from a 2.3% GDP growth estimate to a 2.1%, as well as upping unemployment numbers from 3.5% to the still low 3.7%. It  also signaled it was done hiking rates for the year.

“Growth is slowing somewhat more than expected,” Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell said at a news conference. “While the U.S. economy showed little evidence of a slowdown through the end of 2018, the limited data we have so far this year have been somewhat more mixed.”

Most importantly, the Fed also announced it would stop reducing its balance by September.

According to Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income: “The Committee also re-iterated its intention to run a larger balance sheet going forward than previously assumed, which we would agree with. That approach is more sensitive to the banking and broader financial system, which arguably has become a much larger part of the economy than ever before, but this is not necessarily a dangerous dynamic at all. It just requires regulation and moderate policy adjustment over long periods of time. Reducing mortgage holdings as part of the balance sheet adjustment and running a shorter weighted-average maturity of its Treasury holdings allows the Fed to run a larger balance sheet, but with less duration and a less “credit-heavy” character over time.”

 

LatAm Institutional Investors Embrace ETFs As Instrument Of Choice For Volatile Times

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Los inversionistas internacionales de América Latina apuestan por los ETFs
Wikimedia CommonsPhoto: Steven Depolo. LatAm Institutional Investors Embrace ETFs As Instrument Of Choice For Volatile Times

 Latin American institutions continue to adopt ETFs at record levels according to the third annual Latin American Exchange-Traded Funds Study from Greenwich Associates, with ETF allocation now 18% of total assets in 2018. This is up from 13% in 2017 and just 8% in 2016.

The Greenwich Associates study, entitled “ETFs: Instruments of Choice for Latin American Portfolios” surveyed 50 institutional investors throughout Latin America on how they are utilizing and implementing ETFs within their portfolios. Latin American institutions are applying the funds to a growing list of applications across asset classes, resulting in ETFs becoming more mainstream components of investor’s portfolios.

Several trends are contributing to that growth:

  • Risk management: Latin American institutions view risk management as their top priority for the year ahead, with approximately 70% of study respondents name “managing risk-return that is in line with objectives/outcome” as their primary 2019 objective. Latin American institutions are increasingly using ETFs to strategically and tactically position their portfolios against the looming risk of trade wars, economic recession and renewed market volatility.
  • Rise of indexing: Like their counterparts in the United States, Europe and Asia, Latin American institutions continue to move assets from active management to index strategies. In fact, 88% of study participants named ETFs as their preferred wrapper for index exposures and 45% have used ETFs to replace other vehicles, primarily active mutual funds and individual stocks. This transition of portfolio assets remains one of the biggest and most consistent sources of ETF demand.
  • Strategic Exposures: Latin American institutions continue to adopt ETFs for strategic purposes such as exposure to fixed-income, international diversification, and tax efficiency—with the last achieved through the use of European UCITS due to preferential withholding or estate tax rates for non-U.S. investors.  68% of respondent institutions label ETFs as strategic, with 40% of respondents reporting average ETF holding periods of longer than one year.
  • Appetite for Smart Beta: ETFs have also emerged as institutions’ vehicle of choice for smart beta strategies. Sustained appetite for factor-based approaches could actually accelerate demand for ETFs in 2019. More than 60% of current investors in smart beta ETFs plan to increase allocations to the funds in the coming year. This increase is partly being driven by more sophisticated use of factor-based strategies. 57% of institutions report having developed investment views on specific factors that they want to implement in their portfolios, and can do so using ETFs.

“As these and other developments make ETFs more mainstream components of institutional portfolios, Latin American institutions are applying the funds to a growing list of applications across asset classes,” says Greenwich Associates Managing Director Andrew McCollum and author of Repositioning Portfolios, Latin American Institutions Up Their Use of ETFs. “This proliferation of uses is fueling fast expansion—especially in equity portfolios, where half of current ETF investors are planning to expand allocations in 2019, with many of these institutions anticipating increases in excess of 10%.”

“The ETF discussion is no longer about active versus passive, it is about making active investment decisions utilizing ETFs. What we are seeing today around the world and in Latin America are active investors using ETFs as efficient building blocks for their active portfolios. We are also seeing increased interest and understanding from investors about the importance of diversifying their portfolios and gaining a larger exposure to international markets.” says Nicolas Gomez, Head of iShares for Latin America.

SEC Gets RIAs to Return 125 Million Dollars to Investors

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La SEC recibirá 125 millones de dólares de 79 RIAs
Foto: Scott S . SEC Gets RIAs to Return 125 Million Dollars to Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Monday that it settled charges against 79 investment advisers who will return more than $125 million to clients, with a substantial majority of the funds going to retail investors.  The actions stem from the SEC’s Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative, which the SEC’s Division of Enforcement announced in February 2018 in an effort to identify and promptly correct ongoing harm in the sale of mutual fund shares by investment advisers. 

The initiative incentivized investment advisers to self-report violations of the Advisers Act resulting from undisclosed conflicts of interest, promptly compensate investors, and review and correct fee disclosures. 

In a statement,  SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton said:  “I am pleased that so many investment advisers chose to participate in this initiative and, more importantly, that their clients will be reimbursed.  This initiative will have immediate and lasting benefits for Main Street investors, including through improved disclosure.  Also, I am once again proud of our Division of Enforcement for their vigorous and effective pursuit of matters that substantially benefit our long-term, retail investors.”

The SEC’s orders found that the investment advisers failed to adequately disclose conflicts of interest related to the sale of higher-cost mutual fund share classes when a lower-cost share class was available.  Specifically, the SEC’s orders found that the settling investment advisers placed their clients in mutual fund share classes that charged 12b-1 fees – which are recurring fees deducted from the fund’s assets – when lower-cost share classes of the same fund were available to their clients without adequately disclosing that the higher cost share class would be selected. 

According to the SEC’s orders, the 12b-1 fees were routinely paid to the investment advisers in their capacity as brokers, to their broker-dealer affiliates, or to their personnel who were also registered representatives, creating a conflict of interest with their clients, as the investment advisers stood to benefit from the clients’ paying higher fees.

The RIAs involved are:

  •     Ameritas Investment Corp.
  •     AXA Advisors LLC
  •     BB&T Securities LLC
  •     Beacon Investment Management LLC
  •     Benchmark Capital Advisors LLC
  •     Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. Inc.
  •     Blyth & Associates Inc.
  •     BOK Financial Securities Inc.
  •     Calton & Associates Inc.
  •     Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.
  •     Cantella & Co. Inc.
  •     Client One Securities LLC
  •     Coastal Investment Advisors Inc.
  •     Comerica Securities Inc.
  •     Commonwealth Equity Services LLC
  •     CUSO Financial Services LP
  •     D.A. Davidson & Co.
  •     Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
  •     EFG Asset Management (Americas) Corp.
  •     Financial Management Strategies Inc.
  •     First Citizens Asset Management Inc.
  •     First Citizens Investor Services Inc.
  •     First Kentucky Securities Corporation
  •     First National Capital Markets Inc.
  •     First Republic Investment Management Inc.
  •     Hazlett, Burt & Watson Inc.
  •     Hefren-Tillotson Inc.
  •     Huntington Investment Company, The
  •     Infinex Investments Inc.
  •     Investacorp Advisory Services Inc.
  •     Investmark Advisory Group LLC
  •     Investment Research Corp.
  •     J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons LLC
  •     Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
  •     Kestra Advisory Services LLC
  •     Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC
  •     Kovack Advisors Inc.
  •     L.M. Kohn & Company
  •     LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC
  •     Lockwood Advisors Inc.
  •     LPL Financial LLC
  •     M Holdings Securities Inc.
  •     MIAI Inc.
  •     National Asset Management Inc.
  •     NBC Securities Inc.
  •     Next Financial Group Inc.
  •     Northeast Asset Management LLC
  •     Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.
  •     Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.
  •     Park Avenue Securities LLC
  •     PlanMember Securities Corporation
  •     Popular Securities LLC
  •     Principal Securities Inc.
  •     Private Portfolio Inc.
  •     ProEquities Inc.
  •     Provise Management Group LLC
  •     Questar Asset Management Inc.
  •     Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.
  •     Raymond Lawrence Lent (d/b/a The Putney Financial Group, Registered Investment Advisors)
  •     RBC Capital Markets LLC
  •     Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated
  •     Ryan Financial Advisors Inc.
  •     SA Stone Investment Advisors Inc.
  •     Santander Securities LLC
  •     Select Money Management Inc.
  •     Silversage Advisors
  •     Sorrento Pacific Financial LLC
  •     Spire Wealth Management LLC
  •     SSN Advisory Inc.
  •     Stephens Inc.
  •     Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Incorporated
  •     Summit Financial Group Inc.
  •     Syndicated Capital Inc.
  •     TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services LLC
  •     Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.
  •     Trustcore Financial Services LLC
  •     Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC
  •     Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network LLC
  •     Woodbury Financial Services Inc.
     

Justin Teman Joins Loomis, Sayles & Company

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Loomis, Sayles & Company ficha a Justin Teman
Wikimedia CommonsCourtesy photo. Justin Teman Joins Loomis, Sayles & Company

Loomis, Sayles & Company, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, announced that Justin Teman has joined the firm as Director, LDI solutions. Justin is based in the company’s Boston headquarters and reports to Maurice Leger, head of product management and strategic planning.

“We are pleased to welcome Justin to Loomis Sayles,” said Leger. “Justin’s extensive expertise addressing client objectives with LDI solutions will continue to enhance our LDI presence and capabilities. He will be instrumental in delivering superior insights to our clients and designing solutions that meet their goals.”

In this new role, Justin will work closely with prospects and clients to understand and meet their needs by collaborating closely with the investment teams that contribute to Loomis Sayles’ LDI solutions. He will also help to position the solution set, deliver innovative thinking and contribute to LDI solution implementation.

Teman joined Loomis Sayles in 2019 from Cambridge Associates, where he was a Managing Director in the pension practice. As the firmwide expert on LDI, Justin helped clients in areas such as asset allocation, liability hedging, glide paths, risk transfers and completion management. Previously, he was an actuarial consultant at Mercer. Justin earned a BS in Business Administration, with a concentration in applied actuarial mathematics, from Bryant University. He is a CFA charterholder and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
 

Marisa L. Hernández to Join BigSur Partners

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BigSur partners ficha a Marisa L. Hernández
Marisa L. Hernández, courtesy photo. Marisa L. Hernández to Join BigSur Partners

Marisa L. Hernandez will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer at BigSur Partners effective March 18.

In a statement, the company told Funds Society: “Marisa is a highly accomplished investment professional with 19 years of experience across asset classes, industries and regions. We are delighted to have an executive of her talent and seniority join our leadership team, as we are position BigSur for the next leg of growth given an exciting set of opportunities in the wealth management business.”

Hernandez joins BigSur after a successful career as an equity analyst and Co-Portfolio Manager at prestigious finance organizations in New York. She worked at asset manager Neuberger Berman for the last 12 years, where she most recently served as Senior Vice President. She was previously an equity analyst at UBS Securities. Before coming to the U.S., Marisa was an entrepreneur in her native Uruguay where she founded and managed a construction company.

Hernandez holds a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Uruguay, a post-graduate certificate from the University of Padua (Italy), an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and is a CFA Charterholder.
 

Climate Change: Risk for Florida Real Estate

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Cambio climático: riesgo para el real estate de Florida
Wikimedia CommonsPhoto: B137 . Climate Change: Risk for Florida Real Estate

Florida has been identified as a US states that will be under threat from global warming. Future challenges come in the form of more intense hurricanes and tropical storms, sea-level rises and extreme heat. “Of the total of 4.2 million US citizens that live at an elevation of less than 1m 20, 2.4 million of them live in South Florida. By 2045, nearly 64,000 homes in Florida face flooding every other week, with roughly half in South Florida and 12,000 in Miami Beach alone.” Points out Victoria Scalongne, Senior Real Estate Analyst at Indosuez.

Although these predictions depend on how high sea- levels are modelled to rise by the end of the century, in her opinion, it is clear that the housing market and infrastructure of the low-lying peninsula stands a very big chance to be negatively impacted during the course of the life-time of a mortgage taken out today (30 years).

In Miami, a property on or near the water currently fetches a premium and the cheaper real estate in the metro can in general be found on higher ground further inland. “With sea levels rising, this pricing scenario is likely to be inversed in the medium term, with higher ground fetching a premium. Whether it’s climate change, fashion, or real estate returns, developers have been reported to be buying up properties in lower value, higher elevation locations like Little Haiti, redeveloping them and letting them out at increased rents.” She mentions adding th (Scientific American). The median list price for all homes in this neighbourhood increased by 35% from January 2018 to January 2019, while the same indicator stayed flat for Miami Beach over the same period and only increased by 8% for Miami as a whole (Zillow). In Key Biscayne, on the other hand, the median list price in December 2015 was USD2.3 million, by January 2019, this stood at USD 1.54 million, a 33% drop.Florida ha sido identificada como un estado de los Estados Unidos bajo la amenaza del calentamiento global. Los desafíos futuros se presentan en forma de huracanes y tormentas tropicales más intensas, el aumento del nivel del mar y el calor extremo.

En Miami, una propiedad en o cerca del agua actualmente cuesta una prima y las propiedades inmobiliarias más baratas en la zona en general se pueden encontrar en terrenos más altos en el interior. “Con el aumento del nivel del mar, es probable que este escenario de precios se invierta en el mediano plazo”, comenta Scalongne añadiendo que ahora, los desarrolladores están comprando propiedades de menor valor, en lugares de mayor elevación como Little Haiti, reurbanizándolas y dejándolas a precios más elevados.

Según su investigación, el precio de lista promedio para todas las casas en este vecindario aumentó en un 35% desde enero de 2018 hasta enero de 2019, mientras que el mismo indicador se mantuvo estable para Miami Beach durante el mismo período y solo aumentó en un 8% para Miami en su conjunto. En Key Biscayne, por otro lado, el precio de lista promedio en diciembre de 2015 era de 2,3 millones de dólares, mientras que para enero de 2019, era de 1,54 millones, una caída del 33%.

Ampliar

The Florida housing market has traditionally not only been driven by local demand, but by retirees, people escaping cold regions, job seekers and the ebb and flow foreign investors (mainly South American concentrating on the condo market). It has also historically been quite a volatile housing market, relative to other locations. Scalongne notes that although this cycle has not been characterised by overbuilding as in period preceding 2006 (see chart above), and fundamentals are sound, any downturn in the real estate sector will have a profound impact on the economy, as the real estate sector is estimated to represent around 15% of US GDP. “Anyone thinking of investing in the short term has to think that we are in late cycle conditions, and anyone investing in the long term cannot ignore the potential negative impact that climate change could have on this part of the world. Instead of “location, location, location”, the new real estate motto could in the future be “elevation, elevation, elevation.” She concludes.