Weekly News (January 22, 2021)

This week’s Interest Rate (2nd  Week)

(By Fairway Home Loan  )  

   30 yr fx(%)  15 yr fx(%) FHA(%) 10 yr Tr Y (%)
A year ago      3.625       3.000     3.375          1.818
A month ago      2.625       2.375     2.625          0.921
Last week      2.699       2.375     2.490          1.177
This week      2.625       2.290     2.490          1.092

 

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

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

 

Madison Square Garden will be moved to 6th Ave in Manhattan

(Korea Daily 1/14)

  • NYC has approved the Penn Station Redevelopment project which includes opening up the upper part of the Penn Station and moving the Madison Square Garden to nearby 6th Ave.
  • The project, which will cost $3B for 10 years, includes also 6M sf office buildings, 300,000 sf food court and retails, 600,000 sf hotel, 650,000 sf luxury apartment around the new Madison Garden.
  • The governor Cuomo announced that the city will make tourist complex which included the High Line (1.45 miles elevated linear park form Meat packing District to Hudson Yard) and Hudson Yard, Moynian Train Hall, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden.
  • K Town near 32nd St will have a positive effect from the Penn Station redevelopment project.

 

NY Governor, Cuomo unveiled New York version of “New Deal” Policy

(WSJ/ Korea Daily 1/18 )

  • In order to overcome Covid-19 fallout, New York wants to redevelop the Mid-West of Manhattan.  The huge redevelopment project includes  1) Port Authority Bus terminal on 42nd St will be moved/expanded  2) Initiating $30B’s project for Gateway project Hudson River underwater tunnels  3) Train transportation hub in 140 Ac Manhattan West lots  4) The Penn Station expansion project.  NYC will make Midtown as a center for business, culture, tourism, and residential.
  • Port Authority 42nd Bus terminal will be moved to underground beneath Jacob Javits center.  New modern building will be built on the current location of the Bus Terminal.
  • The $30B Gateway project will be initiated by Biden Admin’s support, which was halted by Trump Admin.
  • Cuomo said it is a perfect time because it is  1) Easy to get fund with low interest rates  2) Easy to do construction work due to less commuters with public transportation  3) to boost employment creation, new vitality and stimulate consumer spending.

 

“North End Redevelopment” Project is announced in Hoboken, NJ     

(Korea Daily 1/20)

  • Hoboken is called New Jersey’s Manhattan and is a train transportation hub : PATH Train is connected to Penn Station in Manhattan directly.
  • 16 blocks of Industrial area in North West of the town are converted to huge mixed-use complex, ”North End Redevelopment”: Over 1000 apartment units with 5% affordable housing, office buildings, hotel, retail stores. Also the project includes elementary school, library, cultural center, and 71,000 sf public park.  New light rail station will be open on 15th.
  • The public hearing will be on 1/27/2021.

 

Biden Admin is preparing rent support for 15 months for low income class

(Korea Daily 1/20)

  • $25B out of Stimulus package will be allocated for rent support for low income class for 15 months.  It will not cover entire rent, but it will be different depending on the applicants.  State and local government will be in the process of determining the amount.
  • According to CNBC, 19% of renters could not pay rent as of December, 2020.  Biden said that ban on eviction needs to be extended till 9/30/2021.

 

Blackstone benefits from portfolio shifts during Pandemic

(WSJ  1/20)

  • The pandemic slammed some of the major property types, but changes Blackstone Group Inc, made to its real estate portfolio over time have helped the investment firm navigate through the fallout.
  • In a global real-estate portfolio that Blackstone values at $341B, retail real estate holdings make up 5% equity value, compared with 19% in 2015.  Hotel accounts for 7% equity value, down from 23% in 2015.  Blackstone said traditional US office space – which does not have specialized features such as labs for pharmaceutical companies – accounts 5% of its equity value, compared with 19% in 2015.
  • The firm increased industrial space to 36% of its real estate equity value, from 9% in 2017.
  • Blackstone focused on office space that specialized on certain tenants, such as bio-technology lab space and entertainment companies in Hollywood that want to be close to studios.  Those bets turned out well, as billions of dollars flooded in to research on Covid-19, and demand soared for streaming series and other movie and television content.

 

Move to privatize Fannie, Freddi falters

(WSJ  / Miju news   1/15 )

  • The US Treasury Department has decided not to restructure taxpayer’s stake in Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac, effectively ending the Trump admin’s push to ensure that the mortgage giants are eventually returned to private hands.
  • According to adviser close to Biden’s Admin, Biden said he would be in no hurry to privatize the companies, which guarantee roughly half of the $11 trillion US mortgage market.
  • Because those shares give the Treasury first claim on profits, private investors would have little incentive to take new stakes in Fannie and Freddie as long as they exist in the current form.
  • The Congress approved Fannie Mae company establishment in1938 and Freddie Mac’s in 1970.  At the financial crisis in 2008, Fannie and Freddi lost $180B, which was larger then the profit they made during 37 years.  Since then, they were under the control of FHFA.

 

California stops Moderna vaccine shots 

(Korea Daily  1/20)

  • The Moderna vaccine which has the manufacturing code 041L20A causes side effect on more than normal : during the last 24 hours, around 10 people had to have treatment due to the vaccine.
  • According to CDC, the number of doses shot in California is 1,072,959.
  • California is the 2nd highest positives in US and 1 out of 3 people is positive in LA.

 

Others/Tech News : -LG plans to provide Power Train to Apple, Inc’s iCAR 

– HyunDai Auto talks with Apple, Inc. for iCAR production.
– GM teams with Microsoft on driverless electric cars.
(Record 1/20)

      

 

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