Weekly News (January 29, 2020)

This week’s Interest Rate (3rd Week)

(Fairway Asset)
30 Y Rate: 3.450%/ 15 Year Rate:2.99%/ 10 Y Treasury: 1.651%/  FHA:3.375%
Prime Rate:4.75% / Ref IR: 1.50- 1.75%

Englewood Cliffs town will appeal to Bergen County for the pending development

(The Korea Daily  1/25)

• Bergen county ordered to begin the apartment complex development project including 174 low income units at 800 Sylvan Ave. on 1/20/2020 according to the law that each town should keep low income housing.
• The town and the mayor (Rep) will pursue the appeal immediately to the court with Democrat council members’ cooperation with the reason that the project will increase big tax burden to the residents.

NY Korea town Association’s new president and new name of the association

(The Korea Times  1/25)

• New name for the organization and new president: “New York Koreatown Association” and the association elected new president, JungHoon Lee on 1/23/2020.  He is running PoCha 32 on 32nd St, CajunSea on 33rd St, and Gopchang Story BBQ on 5th Ave and Flushing.
• He wishes K town becomes culture/history district rather than only Korean food district, and he will continue to the project such as registering non-profit organization, Symbolic sculpture installation on 32nd etc.

China out, but Korea/Japan in to NYC market?

(The TRD  1/24)

• Foreign investment in NY dropped, thanks in large part, to a pullback in Chinese capital, but other foreign investors’ stepped in, especially Japanese investors.
• Tokyo Trust Capital Co, a Tokyo based investment and asset management firm purchased 434 Broadway n the corner of Howard St in SOHO at $103.5M (Newark Knight Frank’s deal). Shimizu Realty Development purchased the Albano building at 305 E 46th St in Midtown.
• German Allianz, Munich based insurance giant bought 49% stake in Warner Media’s office condo at Related Companies’ 30 Hudson Yards at $2.2B.
• Dashin Securities (대신증권) purchased 20 story building at 400 Madison Ave. at $194.5 M.

Forever 21 might to sold to Simon Property Group after all?

(The Korea Daily   1/29)

• According to Bloomberg, Simon Property Group did offer the price, but the details are revealed because the deal is under tight confidentiality.  Forever 21 owner Mr. Jang’s couple was once one of 400 richest family in US, according to Forbes.
• If Jang’s family does not give the management power, creditors will have to force out eventually.  For creditors, Jang’s family becomes a dangerous group to the company.

More single women buy houses than single men

(The Korea Daily 1/25)

• Generally women receive 80% of men’s salary.  However home owner rates of single women are much higher than single men.  Single women takes 17-20% of home buyer while single men takes 9% level in 2019.
• According to Bank of America report in 2018, 73 % of women think that owning homes is more important than marriage and delivering babies while 65% of men think so.
• According to “House Beautiful”, magazine specialized in home interior, 23 % of women home owners earn $25,000 – $49,999 annually while 20% earn $50,000 – $74,999 and 2% earn more than $200,000. This numbers indicate they own home without correlation with income level.
• Their area preference is single house (72%), condo-coop (13%), town house (9%) in order.  Their reasons to buy are  1) Enough income to buy homes (31%), and  2) Real Estate market is beneficial to me (29%),  3) Real estate is good investment (26%),  4) need of house due to divorce, etc.

M Gen’s home buying prefers neighborhood and belonging 

(The  Korea Daily  1/25)

• According to NAR report, M Gen buyers take 37% of share.  They want to have good neighborhood in outdoor space with open layout plan and renovated house.
• Public transportation is less important because of more telecommuting and sharing cars.  Pets are more important than parking spaces – they prefer outdoor space.
• They are familiar with smart-home technology: USB consents, charging hub station in kitchen, electric care charging outlet the garage, etc.
• They also like open layout: kitchen, living room, and dining are open together with preferably pocket door style than conventional door style.
• In kitchen, they like island counter with stools for coffee, other drinks, and simple breakfast, etc.

US home prices surge in November

(The Record  1/29)

• S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20 city home price index rose 2.6% in November from a year ago, up from a 2.2% annual gain in Oct mostly due to  1) lower interest rates and  2) a sharp drop in available properties.
• Home values have fully recovered from the housing burst and have moved to even higher.  The 20 city index is nearly 6% above its 2006 peak, though that figure is not adjusted for inflation.