Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 792

Today I learned that Girona in northeast Spain is a mecca for cycling. Bike enthusiasts like it because the climate is mild; the roads are well maintained; the lifestyle is relaxed; and there's easy access to the European Grand Tours in Spain, France, and Italy. Apparently Lance Armstrong bought an apartment there in 2001. Though there were other pro cyclists who had come before him.

Interestingly enough, all of this is allegedly having an impact on the real estate market. According to the WSJ , there has been a surge in the tourist licenses required to operate a short-term rental in the city. Ten years ago, the city had only issued 10 of them. But today, more than 700 have been issued. And as of the end of 2019, residential sale prices had increased about 15% year-over-year.

I'm not sure how much of this is a result of cycling tourism, Airbnb, Spain's overall housing market recovery , or other factors. But it certainly sounds like a nice place to go for a bike ride.

Analytics firm, App Annie, has just published its annual The State of Mobile report. As you might expect, our phones continue to consume more of our time, attention, and money. Last year, there were over 204 billion app downloads across the world. Global mobile advertising hit $190 billion and, by the end of this year, it is forecasted to reach $240 billion. By 2023, the mobile industry is expected to contribute some $4.8 trillion to global GDP.

Compared to 2 years ago, the world is spending, on average, 35% more time on their phones. See above chart. Mobile-first countries such as Indonesia and Brazil spend even more time on mobile as they skipped over the PC era that was seen in more mature markets. But globally, all of us are doing more on our phones -- everything from managing our investments to consuming media (TikTok had an explosive 2019).

Financial app usage increased significantly last year. Above are the top "breakout finance apps" of the year. PC Financial (the financial services brand of Loblaw) saw the greatest year-over-year growth in downloads but, since it only launched last year, it was starting from a base of 0. Fintech apps, which grew even faster than traditional banking apps, demonstrate that the big banks probably need to step up their mobile game.

Young people do, of course, spend more time on mobile. Generation Z (those born between 1997 to 2012) had 60% more sessions per user in top apps than older demographics. But as of the end of last year, Generation Z is believed to have surpassed Millennials as the largest generational cohort in the world at about 32% of the population. So this wave is going to continue to come.

If you'd like to download a fully copy of App Annie's mobile report, click here . You'll need to enter your email address. But there's a lot of interesting data in the report. You can almost ignore that it's specifically about mobile and think of it as an overview of where the world is heading.

Charts: App Annie

Many of you have probably visited or seen videos of the Maeklong Railway Market in Bangkok . (I've done the latter, not the former.) It is one of the largest seafood markets in Thailand and it is literally housed on the railway's tracks. Every time a train passes through, the entire market needs to be pulled up and relocated. Even the awnings that cover the market need to be collapsed. The videos I've seen have all been taken from grade. But the below video (via Vala Afshar on Twitter ), showing the market in plan view (from what was likely a drone), is arguably even more impactful. There isn't a foot of wasted space.

https://twitter.com/ValaAfshar/status/1218812294550949888?s=20