Weekly News (April 21, 2021)

This week’s Interest Rate (16th Week)

(By Fairway Home Loan/ Time Mortgage)

  Prime Rate:3.0% / Ref IR: 0.00- 0.25% .

• 2021 Conventional loan limit: Conforming: $548,250/ Conforming high balance: $882,375

New York has been hit hardest during Pandemic 

(Korea Daily  4/20  )

• In terms of loss of jobs and death toll, New York was the worst state during Pandemic, according to Hamilton Place Strategies.  The number of unemployment per 1M was 55,000 in NY which was the 2nd place and death toll was 3,300 per 1M which was the 4th New York is only state that both numbers were within 5th place.
• The report said New York enforced a stronger lock down to prevent virus spread and, therefore, they lost both area: loss of jobs in hospitality and restaurants, and loss of lives.
• By contrast, Florida had shown a fast recovery policy, reporting that the number of unemployment was 25,000 per 1M and death toll was 2,400 per 1M, which placed them in 20th

As Americans stock up, Cold storage takes off

(NYT    4/21)

• Americans have treated their freezers a bit like security blankets over the past year, stuffing them full of staples and indulgences, a consumer behavior pattern that has had ripple effects beyond the walls of kitchens.
• Developers that focus on cold storage facilities say they are seeing growing interest from companies seeking build, buy, or invest in the sector, despite construction costs that are roughly triple that of an ordinary warehouse.
• Cold storage sales volume rose 22% in 2020 on a year-over-year basis, while all commercial real estate plummeted 29%, according to data from Real Capital Analytics.
• A lot of speculative cold storage projects are being built in population growth centers because they’re highly divisible, Mr. O’Rourke at JLL said.  Subsections can have varying temperature ranges so fish sticks, fennel and fresh flowers can all be stored under the same roof.  We’re getting used to convenience now, and the way we think about e-commerce has now entered the food world, he said.

Residential housing market is warned worldwide

(Korea Times   4/19)

• Many countries in the world increased quantity of currency in the market and lowered interest rates, stock market and housing market is getting too hot.  NAR reported that Jan 2020’s median price is up 14.1%, compared to a year ago, to $303,900 which was the record high as Jan sale.
• In UK, average sale price was $349,000 in March.  In Toronto, Canada, average sales price in March was $877,600 which is up 21.6% compared to a year ago.  In New Zealand, Feb house price went up 22.8% from a year ago which is the record high. In Sweden, it went up 17% in March.
• Some experts say this hot residential market is different from the financial crises that the current market is led by real user demand because people desire bigger and better houses due to the pandemic

Blackstone bets on India’s E-Commerce Warehouses

(WSJ   4/21)

•   Blackstone Group Inc., the largest owner of office buildings in India is about to become one of that country’s biggest owners of warehouses.  The investment firm is on the verge of buying $3.5M sf of industrial warehouses as well as development sites that could house an additional 18M sf of logistics properties, according to people familiar with  the matter.  The firm plans to spend about $720M to buy the existing buildings and develop the sites, the people said.
• Blackstone, which owns 18M sf of Indian industrial property, typically buys property, rarely develop from ground up.  But development is a big part of strategy because the country offers few large modern warehouses and distributions facilities for sale while they one billion plus population

U.S. shows still strong Dollar power in the world

   (Korea Time   4/20)

• Among foreign currency reserves worldwide, U.S. dollar reserves went under 60% as first time in 25 years. This shows still U.S. dollar in power, but some says U.S. dollar becomes weakened due to too much dollars were printed during Pandemic period.
• Meanwhile, EU’s Euro takes 21.2 % and Japanese Yen takes 6% which are highest in 6 years and 20 years respectively, and China took initiatives for digital currency policy over U.S.
• But WSJ said that it is too soon to think U.S. dollar’s weakening: multiple countries were asking U.S. Federal Reserves currency swap when their currency value goes down, and their government and investment organizations keep buying U.D. 10 year treasury bonds as a safe investment.

Venmo is into Crypto, allowing users to buy Bitcoin, others

( record  4/21 )

• Venmo will allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in its app, the company said Tuesday, the latest mainstream financial platform to wade into alternative currency like Bitcoin.  In addition to Bitcoin, Venmo has opened the platform to Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin cash – generally considered to be among the mainstream of the digital currencies.
• Bitcoin has attracted massive interest, particularly in the last 18 months.

Former Regulator to Join Crypto Company

(WSJ   4/21 )

• A former US banking regulator is set to join Binance.US, one of world’s largest bitcoin exchanges, in the latest move by cryptocurrency company to deepen its ties to Washington.  Brian Brooks, an acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency under Trump administration, will become the new chief executive of Binance.US, the US affiliate of overseas crypto-exchange giant Binance Holdings. Ltd.
• Binance runs the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, exceeding tens of billions of dollars of trade a day.  Founded in 2017, Binance originally based in China.  It later moved to its office to Japan, and Malta and now says it is a decentralized organization with no headquarters.
• Based in San Francisco, Binance.US says it is a separate company from the overseas Binance.  Both were founded by the same person, Changpeng Zhao, who id CEO of Binance and a board member of Binance.US.

Derek Chauvin Convicted of Murder

(WSJ  4/21)

• Derek Chaivin was convicted of three counts, including murder charges, in the death of George Floyd, a Black man whose death last May while in police custody was captured on video that went viral and set off a summer of unrest over law enforcement’s treatment of people of color.
• Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison for second-degree unintentional murder, the most serious charge.  Because Chauvin has no prior felonies, state sentencing guidelines recommend 11 to 15 years for his crimes, but prosecutors said they would seek a harsher sentence.