By Jessica Guerin
After months of uneven recovery following last October’s program changes, reverse mortgage volume has fallen to a low it hasn’t seen since 2004.
Commercial real estate activity was modest to moderate in most Federal Reserve districts, while residential activity was reported to be mostly flat or declining — although the majority of districts reported increased home prices, according to the Fed Beige Book released Dec. 5.
By Andrea Riquier
Commercial real estate in large urban areas will be the big winner from the tax scheme aimed at boosting investment in needy areas, according to an analysis released in November.
By Kelsey Ramirez
Many economists are predicting the next recession could occur in 2020 or even 2019, but that’s not what Goldman Sachs is predicting.
By Kelsey Ramirez
Buying and selling a home is about to get a lot more difficult in 2019, or so says one expert in her forecast for next year.
The limited supply of urban industrial inventory available for “last mile” e-commerce distribution space is causing investors and end-users to get creative by repositioning other types of real estate with failed uses or shrinking demand, according to a JLL report, Urban infill: the route to delivery solutions.” The report notes that annual total e-commerce deliveries have more than tripled over the past five years, but development of new urban industrial infill assets has remained relatively flat.
Despite dwindling opportunities in urban locations, investors remain interested in the 18 percent sales price premium last mile industrial assets command over “first mile” locations, and the higher rents users are willing to pay in order to be near their customer base.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Nov. 8 appointed William Fall, MAI, SRA, to the state's Real Estate Appraiser Board for a term ending June 30, 2021. Fall is CEO of the William Fall Group, a nationwide valuation firm based in Toledo.
A modest increase in interest rates and home prices kept housing affordability at a 10-year low in the third quarter of 2018, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) released today.
In all, 56.4 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of July and end of September were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $71,900. This is down from the 57.1 percent of homes sold in the second quarter that were affordable to median-income earners and the lowest reading since mid-2008.
By John Egan
Some commercial real estate observers might be a little worked up about how office REITs might be affected by WeWork and its co-working brethren. Yet is that consternation really warranted?
By Kelsey Ramirez
The homeownership rate increased slightly in the third quarter, driven primarily by a jump in first-time homebuyers.
By Michael Tucker
Industrial activity ‘surged' in the third quarter, led by demand from the third-party logistics and packaging industry, reported Colliers International, Toronto.
By Michael Tucker
Technology companies from northern California, Seattle, Boston and New York are expanding into new markets, creating more office space demand and rent growth in beneficiary markets, reported CBRE, Los Angeles.
Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing that rates increased slightly across the board.
Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, says, “Despite volatility in the stock market, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage inched forward just 1 basis point to 4.86 percent this week. We expect rates to continue to rise, which will put downward pressure on homebuying activity. While higher borrowing costs will keep some people out of the market, buyers with more flexibility could take advantage of the decreased competition.”
By Michael Gerrity
According to new research by global property consultant CBRE, more commercial real estate investment capital crossed U.S. borders in both directions during H1 2018, with foreign inflow up by 29% from the first half of 2017, and U.S. outflow up by 15% in H1 of 2018.
On net, the U.S. commercial real estate market had a capital surplus of roughly $12 billion. Savvy foreign investors have several strategies to mitigate foreign exchange risk when acquiring U.S. assets, one of which is purchasing forward contracts to hedge against U.S. dollar depreciation.
French company Unibail-Rodamco's acquisition of Westfield, which included a $7.7 billion shopping mall portfolio, elevated inbound capital flows from REITs and France, as well as foreign retail acquisitions, to record highs.
CBRE further reports the cost of hedging against U.S. dollar depreciation is rising worldwide, reducing effective yields for many foreign investors, despite the continuing attractiveness of the U.S. market in growth and liquidity terms. Inbound capital flows have eased in the past 24 months, providing more opportunities for domestic investors.
Strong market conditions helped fuel a 6 percent increase in multifamily lending in 2017 as lenders provided a record high $285 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.
"The multifamily lending market in 2017 benefited from improving fundamentals, rising property values and low interest rates," said MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell. "The result was larger loan sizes and record levels of overall borrowing and lending."
By Liam Quinn
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Oct. 18 appointed Randy Bryson, SRA, AI-RRS, to the state's Real Estate Appraisers Commission. Bryson is president of Associated Property Analysts in Columbia and has been an appraiser since 1980.
By Jessica Guerin
It’s been just a few weeks since the Federal Housing Administration announced that it will now require a second appraisal on select reverse mortgage loans, but lenders are already feeling the effects.
Visit any urban center in a major U.S. city and you'll see a similar view: cranes dotting the landscape and billboards advertising units in the latest luxury apartment projects. Has the focus on high-end units gotten out of hand?
New research from RentCafe found that luxury rental properties had accounted for 79 percent of all apartment construction in the U.S. And in the 2018 that number has grown to a whopping 87 percent. In many cities, a full 100 percent of projects completed in the first half of the year were upscale units.
By Michael Tucker
"The key word for real estate's future performance is transformation, in technology, in generational choices and in a reconfiguration of preferences related to geography and property types," said ULI Global CEO W. Edward Walter. "The market shift, which will continue to play out over the next several years, is being fueled by consumers and tenants changing the way they shop and live, what they demand of their spaces and by new technologies that will enable real estate to be more flexible and responsive to users' needs."
By Ben Lane
The world’s largest mortgage insurer can only check for mortgage defects on a “small” number of mortgages due to technological shortcomings and that’s leading to a potential rise in appraisal-related issues.
