Weekly News (November 7, 2018)

1. Opening Fort Lee Public Parking garage will delayed till Jan, 2019

2. Manhattan “Morningside Heights” is booming for re-development

Morningside Heights: West 110th st ←→ West 125th st /Hudson River ←→ Morningside ave (total 13 blocks)
Attorney Edward P purchased 3 br condo at $1M → needs to do renovation
Sakura Park, Riverside Park, etc./ landmark building → Riverside Church
Columbia University brings vitality to the community /many retails stores /restaurants /24-hour super-markets
In 2015, “Enclave” (15 story) apartment complex built / new rental complex is being developed across the Enclave
Co-op price → $895,958 /average condo price → $772,640
According to StreetEasy, residential listing → 45 units in October/ price range: $399,000 (junior 1 br co-op) ~ $2.95M (3br Riverview co-op)

3. Amazon 2nd HQ might be 2 different places

According to WSJ, last round candidates are 3: DC, Chrystal City /Texas Dallas /NY
Strongest candidate → DC, Chrystal City
Original Forecast outcome for being 2nd HQ → $5B investment, 50,000 job creation
Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO) mentioned in the recent interview that he will decide intuitively after all, not depending on data analysis (He will make tour to visit them, but schedule is not known)
They will make a decision this week
As of 11/7 Morning, it is almost certain that it will be LIC, NY (Amazon executive group visited the site 3 times and Governor /Mayor had secret meeting /nego unofficially, according to NYT & WSJ
After 2010, 41 high-rise apartment were built in LIC → easy for employee’s housing issue

4. Baby Boomers might delay down-sizing further

According to Trulia, working baby boomers is increased by 3.4%, compared to 10 years ago
Living together with children is increased by 1.7% /only 5.5% will do down-sizing
10 years ago, baby boomers said they will sell the house and move to condo /apartment
Now, they said they will not do down-sizing till they reach to 80
It would be difficult to expect baby boomers put their houses in the market any time soon

5. Next year, RE market will be down market and remodeling market will be reduced

According to Joint Center for Housing Studies, investment for remodeling will be reduced
This year, remodeling index is 7.7% → highest in 10 years
Forecast → remodeling index will be 6.6% to $350B

6. “Cork” flooring is getting popular

Vinyl demand is growing → luxury vinyl plank: different style pattern /color /texturewater- merits: reasonable price /easy to clean /resistance for water
Still carpet has good market share → pattern /design /feeling for entireness

7. Next year (2019), House price (median price) will go up

Lawrence Yun at 2018 Realtor’s conference and expo forecasted (11/2 – 11/5 in Boston)
House sale will be increased by 1% /house price will be increased by 3% in 2019
Nationwide Median price → $267,000
Buyer/Seller are confused in the 2nd half of the year → less sales due to low inventory
Nationwide, house price are moving up over 90% area /only 10% area show decline
Some worry due to 10 year cycle theory, but Lawrence pointed out now and 10 years ago, fundamental is quite different

8. Trump will intend to fix Amazon after the election → Amazon stocks dropped

Trump is reviewing anti-trust issues on 3 big company: Amazon, Facebook, Google
These companies are located in area where democrats are strong
Trump claims Amazon is using USPS with cheap prices /Amazon owns Washington Post
If they are convicted with anti-trust law, they will have to divide into smaller companies

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