Weekly News (June 28, 2017)

1. ‘Waterline Square’ condo in Westside, Manhattan is in final phase

• Total 1,132 units in 3 buildings/ Located between 59^th~?61^st street / Total cost: $2.3 Billion
• Will complete 2018
• One Waterline: 37 stories / 56 unit condo, 216 rental units
• Two Waterline: 38 stories / 106 units condo, 486 rental units
• Three Waterline: 34 stories / 47 condo units, 167 rental units
• 20% of total units are designated to low income people
• 20 year Tax abatement program

2. LIC (Long Islands City) in Queens NYC is #1 area in new Apt development in US 

• According to ‘RentCafe’ LIC → 12,533 units in 41 complex for last 7 years
• Close to Manhattan & Public transportation
• Los Angeles, CA: 7,551 units / San Jose: 6,814 units
• Manhattan / Brooklyn area → 4 places are within top 10 in US (Manhattan Clinton-Health Kitchen area, Brooklyn Williamsburg, Manhattan Upper West)

3. Bioscience & Technology Center in Westchester Co begins to build 

• IBM (Research Center in Yorktown) is prominent company in Westchester County
• Planned in 2016 → $120 Million Budget for the center
• Developer, Fareri Association got into 99 year ground lease (80 Acer)
• County owned lot: Near NY Medical School and Westchester Medical Center
• 300,000 SF: the Center and mixed commercial stores (3 buildings complex)
• Named ‘North 60’ project → Green roof (Saving energy), 50% would be green area
• Shuttle bus operation to near Metro station
• Income to county: 49 Million tax, $7 Million rent / 4,000 construction jobs & 8,000 regular jobs

4. Reason for still low house owning rate?

• Still Difficult lending standards
• Student loan pressure
• Low power to buy (Income and house price) – Low inventory
• New construction is not enough

5. Still shortage of Apt in big cities according to National Apartment Association

• Each Big 10 city needs 100,000 ~ 300,000 units more for future 10 years
• NYC: 280,000, Dallas: 270,000, Miami: 200,000, LA:180,000
• NYC built 212,000 unit for last 15 years → still shortage
• Reason: High house price
• Order for difficulty to build Apt: Honolulu → Boston → Baltimore → Miami
• 40% of resident spend more than 35% of income as housing cost in 7 cities among 10
• Worst area → Miami (54% of resident spend more than 33% of income)

6. Upward house pricing is easing

• In the beginning of the year was strong → Easing upward move
• Case-Shiler index in April → 5% CMT last year (5.6% in March)
• 20 big city index: 5.7% (Forecast was 5.9%)
• Seattle: 12.9%, Portland:9.3%, Dallas:8.4%
• Not too worrisome

7. Recession warning in US

• According to Financial Times, Investors are worrisome due to negative economy figures
• US 10 year treasury bond return rate → very good indicator of economy after W.W II
• Treasury bond is long term → usually return rate is upward curve
• If it becomes flat → (Right after Trump inauguration → sharp upward swing)
• Reason: Reference Interest rate Up → Low confidence on growth / inflation price down

8. Korean students come in less: lowest for 13 years

• F-1/M-1 visa total → 71,204: 7% down compared to last year
• Steady decrease from 110,083 in 2008
• Chines students: 362,368, India students: 206,698, Korean student: 71,204, Saudi Arabia: 55,806
• STEM area → Korean: 23.5%, India: 84%, Chines: 42%