Compare Listings

Weekly News (March 28, 2018)

1. Jaguar HQ will stay in Mahwah, NJ 

  • Jaguar Land Rover North America celebrated new HQ in Mahwah off RT 17 – 144,000 SF (Former Sharp location)
  • $30 Million investment: Show room plus 30,000 SF for research center, training and development center – 360 employees
  • One time, moving out considered → decided to stay with offer for 10 year, $28 Million tax break in 2015
  • They were located in MacArthur Boulevard, 5 miles away
  • Mercedes-Benz moved to Atlanta along with about 1000 jobs recently
  • Jaguar has a total of 232 facilities in North America

2. NJ Towns (Heavily Korean populated) Property tax increased 

  • Palisades Park: 2.5% , Ridgefield: 3.3%, Fort Lee: 1.5% increase
  • Palisades Park → $29.78 town education budget introduced
  • Murphy Governor announced $9.6 Billion budget ($283 Million increased) for shortage of education budget for each town → Still each town needs more budget for teacher’s salary
  • Ridgefield will receive $2.73 Million from the State → Still Tax increase is unavoidable

3. New York City, 1 out of 10 Apartments →Vacant 

  • According to 2017 Census, 11% (237,977 units) of total apartment units → Vacant
  • 35% Up, compared to 2014
  • Among vacant units, 28,000 units → No tenant yet / 8000 units → Under development / 9,600 units → Under litigation / 12,700 units → Tenant (Senior) went Nursing homes / About 100,000 units → Pieds-a-terre (Visitor use) / 27,009 units → Without specific reason (→ Possibly Airbnb, etc.: hard to get statistics)

4. This Year, First Home Buyer? 

  • 2018 for FHB is not so bright ← Tax reform, Interest rate increase, Low inventory
  • Low inventory/High demand → Pushing house price upward
  • January inventory increase to 1.52 Million → 4.1% Up, compare to last month (Lower than last year by 9.5%)
  • According to NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, Wall street investors buy low / middle priced houses and converted to rental properties → Partial reason for low inventory
  • Also seller does not lower house price → Low/middle price houses: 5-6% higher than expectation
  • SALT deduction limit to $10,000 → Not so good effect to NY / NJ high taxed houses

5. Home prices post 6.2% gain 

  • Case-Shiller index climbed to 6.2% in Jan from a year ago (December, 6.3%)
  • Main reason: Low inventory and price surge will continue and tough competition
  • Strong economy boost influx of younger millennials to shop for home anyway
  • Price rose 12.9% in Seattle. 11.1% in Las Vegas, 10.2% in San Francisco
  • Chicago, Washington DC posted 2.4%
  • Average consumption rate of inventory shortened to 3.4 Months from 6 month since 2000

6. Mortgage program with no income verification become popular 

  • ‘Stated Income Mortgage’
  • Interest rate difference becomes minimum (About 0.25% higher) and Credit Score condition is less important (640 or higher)
  • Last year: 1 out of 10 applicants → This year: 3 out of 10 applicants
  • Self-employee → More than 2 years business (2 year financial statement instead of income doc)
  • Mortgage industry foresees bright future in Real Estate market

7. 1st Year of Trump era → Korean immigrants reduced under 20,000 

  • 19,284 New Green card issued in2017 → 5 Down, compared to last year
  • 2000 → 15,107 / 2004 → 19,441 / 2005 → 26,562 / 2006 → 24,386 / 2008 → 26,666 (Peak)
  • 2015 → 17,138 / 2016 → 21,801
  • In 2017, 14,356 → Green card while they are in US / 4,298 → Applied in Korea
  • 32 got Green card, escaped from North Korea / 12 got Green card as refugee
  • Total 1,128,194 Green card → 4.7% Down, compared to last year

8. Tesla Model X got accident on California Highway and killed the driver 

  • On 3/27, Model X hit the divider and collided with 2 cars → The driver was killed
  • Authority said it is not sure the car was with driverless mode or not at this moment

9. G2(US and China) Trade War affects US Stock market last week 

  • Worry about beginning of G2 War → Dow Index dropped by 424.69 (1.77%) to 23,533.20 (Total 1,150 dropped including 724 points drop at the Trump’s signing executive order: Tariff Package)
  • S &P 500 index dropped 55.43 (2.10%) to 2,588.26
  • Nasdaq index dropped by 174.01(2.43%) to 6,992.67
  • On 3/26, Worry on G2 War is being easy due to G2 Negotiation
  • Dow index finished to 24,202.60 / S&P 500 finished to 2,658.55
  • Nasdaq finished to 7,220.54

10. New York City, lowest unemployment rate ever 

  • Last month, UE rate to 4.2% (NY State: 4.6%) → Lowest since July 2007 (6 month before financial crises)
  • Jan 2018 → 3% ( NY State: 4.7%)
  • NYC increased 28,700 jobs in civilian sector in February → Total employment: 8,151,000
  • US nationwide UE rate → 4.1%

img

Stephen Lee

He has been in Real Estate industry in about 20 years and has been Broker of Record for 9 years. His experience includes residential, commercial, and property management. Prior to involving with Real Estate business, he has been involved in the digital communication equipment industry utilizing his engineering background and education, including running own company. He has established C Land Realty in 2011 which has grown to staffing over 100 Real Estate agents and the annual transaction amount of over $110,000,000 today.

Related posts

Weekly News (September 27, 2023)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review (United Mortgage Nation  9/27/2023) 30 yr fx (%) 15 yr...

Continue reading
by Stephen Lee

Weekly News (September 13, 2023)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review (United Mortgage Nation  9/13/2023) 30 yr fx...

Continue reading
by Stephen Lee

Weekly News (September 6, 2023)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review (United Mortgage Nation  9/6/2023) 30 yr fx (%) 15...

Continue reading
by Stephen Lee

Join The Discussion