Weekly News (May 20, 2025)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review

United Mortgage Nation  5/20/2025

                  Federal Fund Rate: 4.25 -4.50%        Prime Rate: 7.25 – 7.50%

Nvidia Plans China Research Center

엔비디아, 중국에 연구소 설립 계획    

WSJ   5/19/25(Mon)

• Nvidia plans to open a research-and-development center in Shanghai, its latest effort to maintain a foothold in China after the Trump administration’s attempts to tighten export controls for its AI semiconductors.
• Chief Executive Jensen Huang visited China in April and discussed the plan with Shanghai’s mayor, who welcomed it and offered to provide support. With the new facility, Nvidia is seeking to beef up its teams that study and convey the demands of its Chinese customers to the company’s headquarters, helping Nvidia design products that are competitive in China and compliant with U.S. rules.
• The company is seeking to lease an office space in Shanghai for the new facility. Officials in the city, where Tesla’s China plant is located, have told the company that it would offer tax breaks and also reduce red tape for its new project, the people said.

Retail-Property Market Rebound is fizzling

상가 건물 시장 회복이 약해…    

WSJ   5/13/25(Tue)

• Shopping-center owner Sandy Sigal groaned when he found out the bankrupt home goods retailer Big Lots was closing its location at his Whittier, Calif., strip center.
• Retailers vacated nearly 6 million more square feet than they occupied during the first three months of the year, according to Cushman & Wake–field. That marked the weakest quarter for shopping-center leasing since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
• The slowdown follows a rise in store closures that began in the second half of last year as struggling pharmacy chains such as CVS Health and Walgreens downsized their fleets. Bankrupt big-box retailers such as Party City, Big Lots and craft-supply company Joann are closing hundreds of locations.
• In 2024, retailers across the U.S. closed about 1,300 more stores than they opened. That ended a two-year streak of net expansion.

Inflation in April is 2.3%, lower than expectation

4월 물가 예상보다 낮은 2.3% 상승     

Korea Daily   5/14/25(Wed)

• CPI has increased 2.3% in April which was lower than expectation, announced the department of Labor in 13th , while it was 2.4% in March. This increase is the lowest for the last 4 years since Feb 2012(1.7%).
• This mild increase indicates the influence due to the tariff war didn’t affect the CPI increase yet. This also indicates it can jump up after the company’s inventory used up and in case that the tariff negotiation doesn’t come out well after 90 days. Lowering energy cost, mainly oil price has affected as one of significant factors.
• Most market experts are saying price hike is the delayed future and the current modest increase is calmness before storms.

U.S. CPI change

Korea Daily 5/14/25

Live Nation Joins Master Plan to Revive Atlanta’s Downtown

라이브 네이션, 아틀란타 도심을 재건할 계획…    

WSJ    5/14/25(Wed)

• Live-music industry giant Live Nation Entertainment has agreed to join a planned stadium district in downtown Atlanta, the latest bet that the demand for live events is enough to power an entire real-estate sector.
• Live Nation committed to lease a 5,300-seat entertainment venue at Centennial Yards, the more than $5 billion mixed-use megaproject under construction next to the Atlanta Hawks’ basketball arena and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the city’s professional football and soccer teams play.
• Centennial Yards is one of a growing number of master plans around the U.S. where sports teams and developers are joining forces to build sprawling real-estate developments with stadiums as the centerpiece. In this case, Hawks owner Tony Ressler is teaming up with his brother Richard Ressler’s development firm CIM Group.

$5 billion Centennial Yards mixed-use project in Atlanta downtown

WSJ  5/14/25

First-Time Home Buyers are Tapped Out

첫 주택 구매자들 더욱 힘들어져     

WSJ    5/16/25(Fri)

• Even with construction companies offering cheap mortgages, younger people find it difficult to enter the market. Demand from first-time home buyers has hit record lows with mortgage rates stuck near 7%. One corner of the market shows it is worryingly weak even with rates at 5%.
• Buyers of newly built houses can get a mortgage rate of around 5% from a major builder, compared with the 6.79% average rate on a 30-year loan for the week through May 8.
• The cut-price loans are meant to entice buyers and help builders shift finished stock. But the sweeteners aren’t working well this spring. Home builders’ sales were weaker than expected in their latest quarter. PulteGroup said new orders from first-time buyers dropped 11% in the first three months of 2025 compared with a year earlier. Builders now have more completed but unsold homes on lots than at any time since 2009.

FTHB, share of existing-home purchases

WSJ  5/16/25

Global K-Pop Audition opens in Manhattan

맨하탄에서 글로벌 K-팝 오디션 개최

Korea Daily   5/16/25(Fri)

• A global K-pop audition will be held in Manhattan on June 30, 2025.
• Organized by a leading Korean entertainment agency, the event aims to discover new international talent in singing, dancing, and overall stage presence. Aspiring K-pop stars from around the world are expected to participate, with hopes of being selected for future training and debut opportunities in South Korea. The audition reflects the growing global influence of K-pop and its expanding reach beyond Asia.
• The organizer is I KADA Dance Company, HIN TRIP LLC and those sponsors are BBQ chicken, Air Premier.
• www.kfanfestival.com

$6 M clubhouse construction has begun

Overpeck 골프장, $6M 개축공사 시작

NV Suburbanite   5/15/25(Thu)

• Construction has begun on a $6M clubhouse facility in Teaneck for Bergen County’s 18-hole, 140 AC Overpeck Golf Course.
• The golf course is part of the county’s 811 AC Overpeck Park. It is one of 6 Golf courses operated by Bergen County, and only one open all year for play.
• Construction is expected to be completed by Spring 2026.
• More than 343,000 rounds of golf were played across Bergen County’s public courses in 2024, the highest number in history.