Weekly News (April 3, 2024)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review

United Mortgage Nation  4/3/2024

Federal Fund Rate: 5.25 -5.50%        Prime Rate: 8.25 – 8.50%  

ATLANTA: From Peaches to ‘Y’allywood

아틀란타가 “살구(Peach)” 에서 얄리우드(Yallywood) 로      

WSJ   3/15/24 

• Long a hub for hip-hop artists, musicians, and pro athletes, Atlanta’s metro area have become a mecca for the film and TV industries, thanks to Georgia state tax credits and incentives for film and video production that were inacted in 2005.
• While some productions crews and actors rent homes for short-term stays, more editors, cameramen, stuntmen, makeup artists and producers are moving to GA and buying homes closer to what is becoming a burgeoning epicenter of film production.
• During 2023’s 4th Qt, the median sales price for luxury homes in Atlanta – defined as the top 5% of the market – was $1.3M in 2023, up 10.8% compared to 4th Qt in 2022, according to Redfin. 

Film production workers’ and actors’ home

WSJ  3/15/24

Gen Z want to buy a home together

Z 세대들, 친구와 함께 집 구입 고려  

Korea Daily  4/3/24 

• According to Credit Kamra’s recent survey, 50% of Gen Z respondents wish to buy a home with a friend together because of the market situation of high home price and low inventory. 
• Also 44% of Gen Z respondents plan to get help form their parents for the downpayment.  
• The survey said 38% of Gen Z and 27% of Gen M actually purchased homes with their parents’ help. 
• Gen Z is trying to save money through deducing travel and dinning out(35%), adding side jobs(28%), delaying necessary expenses(27%), and living together with family(16%).  

 Zen Z(11 y-26y) Picks up The Toolbelt

 Z 세대들이 기능공 쪽으로 많이 진출   

WSJ   4/2/24 

• More young workers go into skilled trades amid higher pay, skepticism about college. 
• Enrollment in vocational training programs is surging as overall enrollment in community colleges and four-year institutions has fallen. The number of students enrolled in vocational-focused community colleges rose 16% last year to its highest level since 2018. The ranks of students studying construction trades rose 23% during that time, while those in programs covering HVAC and vehicle maintenance and repair increased 7%.
•  Some in Gen Z say they’re drawn to the skilled trades because of their entrepreneurial potential. Colby Dell, 19, is attending trade school for automotive repair, with plans to launch his own mobile detailing company, one he wants to eventually expand into custom body work.

Trending Younger

Enrollment Change

Student Housing Heats Up

대학가 주택난으로 열기…

WSJ  3/26/24 

• Student housing has emerged as a hot sector in real estate. But high rents are squeezing students, forcing some to take on more debt, and others to choose windowless rooms in expensive cities. A room with no natural light in a four-bedroom apartment there now costs $1,300 a month in Austin, TX
• Moving to an off-campus apartment used to be a way for students to save money. No longer. Rents have risen nearly 30% nationwide in the past decade, according to CoStar. They are now more expensive than on-campus dorm rooms at many schools, according to a Wall Street Journal.
• In 2022, private-equity firm Blackstone paid $13 billion to acquire American Campus Communities, one of the first and largest student-housing landlords.

Chang in Beds and Students

WSJ 3/26/24

Boomers Give Senior Housing a Boost

‘부머’ 세대가 시니어 하우싱에 촉진제 역활을  

WSJ  4/3/24 

• The outlook is finally brightening for investors in the senior-housing market, many of whom bet billions of dollars that the aging of the baby boom would send rents and occupancies soaring.
• Now occupancy rates at private-pay senior-housing communities are closing in on where they were before the pandemic. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the average rate was at 85.1% in the 31 largest U.S. markets. 
• Ventas , one of the largest senior-housing owners in the country, said earlier this year that it plans to spend at least $300 million on acquisitions in the first half of this year. At a presentation at an investor conference, the company noted that $18 billion of mortgages backed by senior housing matures this year and next. Between 2013 and 2022, maturities averaged less than $4 billion a year, the company said.

Occupancy rate on Private-pay senior-housing communities

WSJ  4/3/24

Ex-CEO Submits Bid To Buy Back WeWork

전 사장이 위웍을 다시 사겠다는 제안서… 

WSJ  3/26/24 

• Adam Neumann, the former chief executive and co-founder of WeWork, recently submitted an offer to buy the bankrupt co-working company for more than $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter. It wasn’t immediately clear how Neumann would finance the acquisition, the people familiar with the matter said.
• WeWork filed for bankruptcy after struggling to stay afloat in the office real-estate market downturn. It has been trying to renegotiate existing leases with landlords to reduce its operating costs, while rejecting ones that aren’t profitable, but the talks have been slow-moving.