Weekly News (December 19, 2018)

1. Korean restaurants are moving out of 32nd St in Manhattan, NY

• “Modern Korean Food” movement are spreading out to East Village, SOHO, West Village, Lower Eastside
• “JeJu Noodle Bar” in West Village/ ”SooGil” in East Village/ ”Bang Bar” in Columbus Circle/ “Reception Bar” in Lower Eastside/ ”The Woo” in SOHO
• The Reasons: 1. High rent 2. Changing Food culture  3. Globalization of Korean Food
• More Korean chefs are having diversified cultural background
• Korean food are known for good taste and healthy food

2. Rent is soaring in LIC and Astoria after Amazon’s new facility announcement

• According to Elliman, rent is up in NE Queens (LIC, Woodside, Sunnyside, Astoria) : 10.3% up from last year to $2,868
• Rent in Manhattan went down to $3,318 (5.1% down from last month, 1.3% down from last year)
• Studio rent is up to $2,562 (11% from last year, 3.3$ from last month/ New tenat:9.5% Up from last year)
• 1br rent is up to $2,942 (3% from last year /new tenant: 20.2% up from last year)
• 2br rent is up to $4,037 (6.9% from last year /new tenant: 9.7% down from last year)
• 3br rent is down to $4,075 (19.7% from last year / new tenant: 25% up from last year)
• Rent in Queens is expected to moving up when Amazon employees are moving into LIC

3. NYC is still in economic growth

• RGCP (Real Gross City Product) is increased by 2.7% for last 3 Qt in 2018
• Lower than National GDP growth (GDP growth is 3.3%)
• NYC job increase for the same period is 74,000 (low income:45,300 (61.2%), Middle income:$16,800 (22.8%), High income: 11,900 (16%))
• Commercial Real Estate lease contracts is increased by 9.5%
• Rent in down town is down by 28.6% / Mid town and Mid town South are increased by 15.9% and 32,4% respectively
• Unemployment is 4.1% as of December 2018 which is lowest in history

4. Google’s Manhattan office is expanding

• Total investment is $1B to secure 1.7M sf (Google Hudson Square)
• 2 Buildings in South West-Village area (St. John’s Terminal between Holland tunnel and Pier 40)
• Also Google purchased a building in Chelsea at $2.4B
• Along with Chelsea and Hudson Square area, Google will double the work force for next 10 years
• IT companies in West (Silicon Valley) are moving into East , NY area

5. E Mart In Korea purchased “Good Food Holdings” in California

• E Mart is preparing opening “PK Market” in LA down town (opening will be during 2nd half of 2019)
• Good Food Holdings owns Bristol Farms, Lazy Acres, Metropolitan Market, etc. 24 stores in LA and Seattle /revenue: $600M /total 3100 employees
• E Mart’s purchase price was $275M
• Vice Chair, Mr. Jung, YongJin mentioned that E Mart went to Vietnam and US market is wide open without much regulations

6. Home Insurance can include lost delivery mail

• 26M people have experienced mail lost at least once (23.5M in 2015)
• As Internet shopping is increased, mail theft is increased as well
• Home owner or tenant can request adding the item – “lost mail delivery”
• Typically home owner policy is $35/month for $100,000 coverage /apartment, $15 /month
• Adding about 20% cost can cover “Lost mail delivery” item
• Amazon might reimburse for lost mail for some items (Amazon will help using GPS tracker by police /Amazon uses Amazon Box: alternating receiving place)
• Surveillance camera installation might be helpful / neighbor or next door can receive in behalf of owner/tenant

7. US Construction is Up in Apartment

• According to Commerce Dept, the increase is entirely for apartment and new single-family houses fell
• Housing starts rose 3.2% in November from last month to annually adjusted rate:1.26M
• Despite this increase, it is down 3.6% from last year
• Single family starts dropped 4.6% in Nov and down by 13.1% from last year
• UE rate is five-decade low /income is rising more quickly but many buyers struggle to find affordable houses
• Developers say that rising labor and material costs make it harder to build affordable properties

8. More Koreans are giving up US Citizenship

• For last 3 Qt, 92 Korean gave up their citizenship (2.8% of total 3,296 in US)
• 102 in 2014, 111 in 2015, 118 in 2016
• Korean population is little less than 1% in US
• The reason- to avoid tax tracking by US IRS
• Accpording to FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), US Banks and Foreign Financial Institutions must report any customer, who has over $10,000, to US IRS
• For unreported, they must pay Maximum 30% of interests income
• For tax evasion, they must pay $100,000 or 50% of unreported tax whichever is bigger