Weekly News (December 16, 2020)

This week’s Interest Rate (50th Week)

(By Fairway Asset )  

   30 yr fx(%)  15 yr fx(%) FHA(%) 10 yr Tr Y (%)
A year ago      3.750       3.25            1.917
A month ago      2.750       2.375     2.625          0.878
Last week      2.625       2.375     2.625          0.921
This week      2.625       2.375     2.625          0.908

(The rate based on 25% down payment with 740 above credit score)

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

 

NY Nurse got Pfizer vaccine first time in U.S.  

(Korea Times  12/15)

  • Sandra Lindsey received a Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine shot at 9:30am on 12/14 as the first vaccine shot in U.S.  The news was broadcasted lively through TV network.
  • 9M doses will be distributed between 12/14 and 12/16 to 636 places including hospitals.
  • It will be available to general public from Feb 2021.
  • Pfizer is planning to deliver 25M doses before the end of the year while Moderna is planning to deliver 20M doses.

 

NYC lost $34B of income due to the pandemic

(Korea Times  12/16)

  • Residents’ moving out of the city caused income loss of $34B due to the COVID-19 this year, according to Unacast’s report on 12/15.  Total of 357,000 has moved to suburban area between 1/1/2020 and 12/7/2020. Meantime 300,000 people have moved in, but most of them are low income families, which caused less spending.
  • Those who visited retail stores were reduced 33% and people visited restaurants were reduced 34%.
  • Currently NYC shows the highest vacancy rate in last 14 years, and 16,000 units are vacant.

 

New York City indoor restaurant will be closed for 2 weeks

(Korea Times 12/14)

  • From 14th for at least 2 weeks, indoor restaurant will be closed in NYC.  Only outdoor, pick up, and delivery will be allowed.
  • NY State positivity rate is 4.96% and NYC positivity rate is 6.26% and the death toll is 106. It is the first time 3 digits death toll since 5/24/2020.

 

Market Info: Mixed use building in Upper West Side sold at $4.5M ($799/sf)

(NYT  12/2)

  • 124 West 78th St between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues in Manhattan.  This 5,630 sf building was built in 1881 and designed by the architect Rafael Guastavino, famous Spanish Architect in NYC.
  • 5 story building with basement office, two 2 bedroom units and three 1 bedroom and five studios.  Two units are rent-controlled and 8 units are free market.
  • Seller is McDonnell Company who has owned for more than 50 years, and buyer is Calano & Calano Realty.

 

N.J. starts $190M Penn Station Makeover

(WSJ   12/9)

  • NJ Transit has begun a $190M renovation and modernization of its transportation hub, 90-year-old building, in New Jersey’s largest city, Newark. About 50,000 riders on rail, buses, PATH and light-rail systems passed each weekday through the gloomy spaces of Newark Penn Station before the pandemic, making it among the region’s busiest stations.
  • Murphy, a Democrat, said president-elect Joe Biden indicated his support for the program during a private phone call Saturday night.
  • Meanwhile, NJ Transit is preparing to receive final agreement from the federal government for $800M grant toward $1.B project to build a new rail bridge over the Hackensack River.  That project would mark the beginning of the first major Gateway construction.

 

Future trends of CRE is “Drive Through”

  (Korea Daily   12/16)

  • As “untact” culture increases, use of digital banking is increased.  According Business Insider, 400 bank branch offices will be closed next year.  Most of them are zoned for “drive through”.
  • Drive through banks can be converted to drive through restaurants, pharmacy, coffee shop, liquor store, and any pick up service
  • Good side is that bank usually has luxury interior, but rent would be lower than bank tenants for landlords.

 

Rule for DTI: 43% for QM(Qualifying Mortgage) is eased

(Korea Times  12/15)

  • CFPB is modifying QM rules and studying alternative for DTI 43% rule.
  • So far, if DTI is higher than 43%, it is not possible to get a loan, but new rule specifies that mortgage lender can review other factors in those cases where 43% DTI does not meet.
  • A lender can decide an interest rates with various factors not only with DTI ratio, and CFPB is monitoring other factors based on that determined interest rates.

 

Pandemic boost up home owners’ equity $1.0T  in U.S.

(Korea Times  12/11)

  • According to CNBC, home owners in U.S made home equity value increase of $1.0T during the pandemic period, which means $17,000 per home owner.  According to CoreLogic, home value of homes with mortgage rose 10.8% during a year.
  • Geologically, the average equity increase is $35,800 in Washington State, $33,800 in Cal, and $31,200 in MA.
  • Chief economist Frank Nothaft said that increase home value created historical home assets and the average home asset with home mortgage is $194,000.

 

New UI application is over 850,000 which is the highest since September

(NYT  12/11)

  • Labor Department announced that new UI application between 11/29- 12/5 was 853,000 which the highest number since September this year.  The continued UI application was 576,000.
  • All UI amount should be reported as income for next year’s tax return.

 

Others/Tech News : Amazon and Apple make “M1” CPU chip.

                                  – Challenge Intel CPU dominance for more than 20 years f x86
                                  – It will cause ripple effect to $400B semi-conductor business.

 

 


 

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