Weekly News (February 14, 2018)

1. Palisades Park, NJ crime rate went down while Fort Lee rate went Up

Palisades Park rate Down by 31.7% to 125 (Theft went Down by 13.5% to 64)
Englewood Cliffs rate Down by 22.9% to 34 (Car theft went Up from 2% to 4)
Fort Lee rate went Up by 7% to 442 (Theft went Up by 16.6% to 232 / Car theft went Up by 175 to 11)
Ridgefield rate went Up by 34.6% to 106 (Violence Up by 75% to 34 / Theft Up by 41% to 55)
Bergen Co rate went Down by 4.3% to 12,491 (Rape went Up by 3.1% to 66)
njsp.org/ucr/pdf/current/20180123-crimetrend.pdf

2. Palisades Park, NJ, Council member candidate might be Hispanic.

Paul Kim might not be a Joseph Testa’s successor.
If he is elected, 50% of council members would be Korean (Jong Chul Lee, Chris Chung, Paul Kim)
Maria Alvarez might be a potential candidate
Recently Hispanic population is growing with fast pace (Guatemala , etc.)

3. Leonia Mayor did not expect damage to the business (store) owners

Business owners claim that prohibition of non-resident vehicle for selective hours causes fear to come in to the town at all
Also they argued with town that it does not make sense what mayor said
They insist to remove the ban or lift during evening hours at leas in order to restore damaged business in Leonia commercial district → They will submit the petition to monthly town meeting

4. Weehawken, NJ also is banning non-residence vehicle

From 2/13, Hackensack Plank Rd / Pleasant Ave will be blocked between 3pm~7pm
‘Waze’ (Traffic guide application) will guide detour route before entrance of 495 highway
They are following Leonia, but Leonia got sued and many complaint form business owners
Possible to block JFK Blvd East and Highwood Terrace in the future

5. ‘The Grand at Sky View Parc’ in Flushing is most popular condo in NYC

According to Property Shock, #1 popular condo is Grand View in Flushing (463 units sold/ Medium price: $794,223) at 131-05 40^th(Subway 7 line, near Main Street station)
#2 is Vanderbilt in Brooklyn (173 units sold/ $896,060)
#3 is Flushing Commons (141 units sold / $1,033,524) at 138 -35 39^th Aveà Total 148 units (95% pre-sale) for 1^st. 2^nd phase (450 units) will be completed 2021 → 1600 parking, 62,000 SF YMCA, 164,000 SF Hospital / Office, 53,000 SF Retail spaces, 1.5 Acre Community Plaza, etc.

6. NYC is making the law allowing basement rent

Mayor is pushing a trial program to use basement rent as legal → He includes $5.7 Million budget to support this program
The trial program is to change/modify basement room and legally allow to lease
Basement unit under this program will be lower than FMR price
Current law prohibits renting attic and basement ($15,000 fine and/or jail term under 1 year)
Within 5 Boroughs in NYC, possible space to be legalized is estimated 45,000 units
Concerns are population density and life quality

7. NYC Commercial RE transactions reduced by 32.8%

2017 Transaction amount: $31.26 Billion (2016: $46.54 Billion)
5% Down, compared to Recent highest year 2015: $66.98 Billion
# of Deals above $100 Million dropped by 52% to 32 transactions (2016: $23 Billion → $11.6 Billion)
Reason: worries to anticipate some adjustment period out of booming years → Less investment / over supply of properties to the market

8. Chinese Investors were waiting for 201’8′

They love ‘8’ without reasoning → The pronouncing ‘8’ is very similar to the sound of the word of prosperity in Chinese character
Especially, this year contains 18 → The pronounce of 18 in Cantonese is very similar to pronouncing of the sentence that ‘want to be rich’
According to juwai.com (Chinese online site), many Chinese investors were ready to purchase this year from the end of last year. Also they are watching out on 8/18 this year → 8/18/2018
Chinese culture will affect RE market, but more important factor: RE Market situation → More important factor: China government policy for allowance to spend abroad