A new player with a very familiar name has entered into the residential homebuilding market.
"Amazon (AMZN) is making its foray into residential real estate," and the housing industry should fear it's new competitor, according to an article by Melody Hahm.
"Last week, the Alexa Fund, which invests in companies harnessing voice technology, participated in a $6.7 million round of funding to back Plant Prefab, a Southern California-based smart home builder," explains Hahm to follow up on news first reported by Eugene Kim.
According to Kim, Plant prefab builds prefabricated, custom single- and multifamily homes, and the investment follows "Amazon's launch of more than a dozen new smart home devices powered by Alexa." All in all, Kim characterizes the move as a step toward Amazon owning the smart home space.
Hahm clearly thinks Amazon has a strong foothold that could give way to a much larger footprint in the industry. "There’s an obvious synergy between the future of home building and Amazon’s vision for the world," writes Hahm.
FULL STORY: Why the housing industry should fear Amazon
Post-Pandemic Home Building Trends: More Bedrooms, Smaller Homes
U.S. homes are adding bedrooms while getting smaller, according to two seemingly contradictory articles published on the same day from different data sources earlier this month.
Housing Construction More and More Frequently the Product of Two Companies
The history of U.S. housing construction has traditionally been the story of many companies building a few homes a year. Now two companies alone are out-building the rest of the top ten homebuilders combined.
How Proptech Could Change Planning and Development in the U.S.
Proptech (a portmanteau of property and technology) promises to change the world of development and planning.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association