Weekly News (April 24, 2024)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review

United Mortgage Nation  4/24/2024

                  Federal Fund Rate: 5.25 -5.50%        Prime Rate: 8.25 – 8.50%  

NYC Rent Increase Caps at 10% annually

뉴욕시 렌트 인상률 최대 10%로 제한 

Korea Daily  4/23/24 

• On 27th City Council passed it’s 2024-2025 budget and the tenant protection package act as well.       
• Effective immediately, landlord cannot increase the rent more than 10% annually or CPI rate + 5% whichever is lower with exceptions: 1) Luxury residential units – such as studio for above $5,846, 2)Apartment complex under 10 units, 3) Condo and Co-op.       
• The media, The City forecasted this package will affect about 300,000 – 400,000 apartments, but the problems are 1) it is hoard to figure out which one will be applied for this package and 2) a victimized tenant has to sue the landlord and only then it becomes an issue.  

GA Rules Don’t Deter Some Migrations

GA, 강력한 이민법애도 불구, 계속 되는 이주민들

WSJ  4/22/24 

• The laws in this state are already among the least welcoming in the nation to people who enter the U.S. illegally. And officials have been looking to tighten them further since a Venezuelan migrant was charged with killing a Georgia college student in February.
• But that isn’t stopping migrants from coming. The reason: jobs. Georgia has plenty of them, and people entering the U.S. in the recent record waves of illegal border crossings say they want to settle in a place where they can earn money quickly.
• GA’s unemployment rate in March was 3.1%, compared with 3.8% nationally. Like other parts of the Southeast, the state is booming, with growing investments in EV manufacturing and data centers, along with traditional manufacturing industries such as poultry and carpets.

Asylum Cases in US

Chinese Villages Got a Deal of a Lifetime, Until It Soured

중국, 일생의 한번 큰 부동산 개발 거래가 문제로…

WSJ  4/24/24 

• Bella Zhao’s family grabbed that offer in 2009, when property developers led by Wanda Group moved into their sparse, snow-capped village in China’s northeastern Jilin province. Wanda planned to spend $2.8 billion to turn the area into a high-end resort replete with ski slopes, golf courses, hunting spots and five-star hotels. The developer offered locals a large number of new apartments in town in exchange for their old homes.
• Now, all five apartments sit empty. Only one store has a tenant. The ambitious development project stalled years ago; the promised tourism boom never happened. But no one wants to live there, even for free. China’s real-estate market has been in a downturn for three years.

New Home/Existing Home sales in China

Not everyone can wait out the toughest housing market in years

주택소유주 모두 다 안팔고 기다릴순 없어…  

WSJ  4/23/24 

• Not everyone can wait out the toughest housing market in years. Sellers are listing homes because they need to relocate, even if it means giving up super low mortgage rates. Empty-nesters need to move to places without stairs and with walk-in showers. Growing families that are spilling out of starter homes need to upsize.  In year three of the Federal Reserve’s high-rate policies, some home sellers and buyers are giving up waiting for the central bank to change course. 
• The housing market needs more sellers like these to bounce back. Existing-home sales fell in March, marking a sluggish start to spring home-buying. Sales in 2023 dropped to the lowest level since 1995. Still, new listings during the past four weeks are up 11% from a year earlier, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.

11% of US small businesses are owned by Asian

미국 소기업 11% 아시안 소유

Korea Daily   4/24/24 

• Asian own 11% of small businesses in US and most of them are with under 4 employees, but they think it is American Dream.  
• According to SBA report on 23rd, businesses under 500 employees are 6M in US which takes 99.9%.  Among them, 49% of businesses are under 4 employees.    85% of small businesses are owned by White including Hispanic. 11% of Asian owned businesses is the biggest one as minority.  Blacks own 3%.
• Applications for business were 1.8M in 2023 while it was 1.3M in 2019. 86% of Adult Americans responded small businesses have positive influence to the communities, 60% responded for military, 59% for churches.

Rates Top 7%, Housing Hit

모기지 이자률 7%로 주택시장을 강타     

WSJ  4/19/24 

• Mortgage rates have surged past 7% and home sales in March posted their biggest monthly drop in more than a year, renewing pressure on the U.S. housing market as uncertainty over real-estate commissions buffets the industry. 
• The average rate on the standard 30-year fixed mortgage jumped by nearly a quarter percentage point to 7.1%, according to a survey of lenders released Thursday by Freddie Mac. That is the highest level since late 2023 and the largest weekly increase in nearly a year.
• Existing home sales in March, meanwhile, fell 4.3% from February in what was the largest percentage decline on a monthly basis since November 2022, NAR said Thursday.

U.S. existing-home sales/price

10-Year Treasury May Hit 5%, the path is Narrow

10년 만기 국채수익률, 5% 까지 가능     

WSJ   4/23/24 

• A recent jump in U.S. government- bond yields has left investors pondering whether the 10-year Treasury yield could reach 5% as expectations for interest-rate cuts continue to be scaled back.
• The yield hit a five-month high of 4.696% last week, according to Tradeweb, after strong inflation data for March increased the prospect that the Federal Reserve could delay rate cuts until later in the year.
• Reaching 5% will be tricky, however. It would require rate-cut expectations to be scaled back even further, potentially for no cuts at all this year, or even the possibility of a rate increase as inflation stays high and the economy strong, analysts said.

10-year Treasury yield

CoStar Group Fights Extension for WeWork to Restructure Leases

CoStar사, 건물주로서 위웍의 요구사항 거절 

WSJ  4/24/24 

• CoStar Group has joined two other WeWork landlords objecting to the co-working space provider’s request to extend the time to reject or assume leases in bankruptcy.
• WeWork filed for bankruptcy in November and has been renegotiating leases with its hundreds of landlords to change the lease. The bankruptcy code empowers filers to reject unfavorable leases during the first 120 days of the bankruptcy proceedings, and the period can be extended by 90 days upon court approval.
• CoStar became a WeWork landlord in February when it acquired a 552,000-square-foot office building in Arlington, Va.  CoStar told WeWork that it “will not be entertaining any proposed amendment or modification”.