Weekly News (July 13, 2022)

Interest Rate (27th Week)

(By Fairway Home Loan)

Prime Rate: 4.5% – 4.75%  /Fed Fund Rate: 1.5%- 1.75% 

• 3% Down payment for 1st home buyer is available.
• 5% Down payment 2-4 units FHA program available.
• 15% Down payment 2 families -conventional program available.
• Potential home buyer — Have a pre-approval first before the shop.  Now we have 48hour underwriting turn-around times for regular loans.
• Self employed borrower – Need to prepare 3 month business bank statements and the YTD Profit and Loss Statement. YTD income can’t decline more than 30% compared to last year.
• 2022 Conventional loan limit:

Conforming SFR : $647,200.00/ Conforming high balance: $970,800.00
Conforming 2 Family: $828,700/ Conforming High Balance: $1,243,050

New Jersey Towns are known of tax abuse

(Korea Daily  7/12)

• The state comptroller investigated 60 towns in the state and found 57 towns have abused residents’ tax money for its town employees, including Ridgefield Park, Hackensack, Palisades Park, etc.
• In 2007, the state made a law that towns can pay the unused sick-day payment when certain high position jobs up to $15,000 when they are retired, and prohibit to pay annually as salary.
• But there were only 3 towns, Montgomery, Holmdel, and Upper township, kept the law accordingly.
• According to the comptroller report, 60% of towns paid over $15,000 and 80%of towns paid for resignation and switching jobs, not for retirement. Also 28% paid several months’ of Terminal Leave before retirement and 48% paid unused sick leave payment annually, and 27% carried over unused sick leave payment to the next year.
• This state level investigation has done one year after the town budget abuse issues has been revealed in Palisades Park in 2021, such as 30% of 86 employees’ unused sock day issue over $200k

ADM has withheld millions from surrounding towns, say Meadowlands mayors

   (The Record   7/13)

• Three years after its grand opening, the ADM mall and entertainment complex still owes surrounding towns in the Meadowlands more than $9M in negotiated payments, with bills to local governments and investors, continuing to pile up.
• The $9M accounts for just three local municipalities – East Rutherford, Carlstadt and Secaucus – and doesn’t cover all installments the mall allegedly owes to a total of 14 towns in the region, some of fees amounting to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per community.
• East Rutherford, the mall’s home borough, has hired an attorney to explore its options and officials in neighboring communities promised to “vigorously pursue” the money, but haven’t laid out any specific plans to collect.
• Central to the payments dispute is whether ADM meets the technical definition of being fully opened, even after launching operations with a grand ceremony in Oct 2019 that drew Gov. Phil Murphy and other notables.
• Triple Five, the developer, has refused, arguing it’s not with the hook until the mall reaches 100% occupancy.

Newark Airport deal for $432M air hub for Amazon collapses

  (The Record  7/8)

• Amazon and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have walked away from a controversial $432M air freight hub proposed for Newark Liberty Int’l Airport.
• The bistate agency and the e-commerce giant announced last August that they were negotiating a 20-year lease to repurpose two cargo buildings at Newark Airport. The project would create about1,000 jobs and help speed shipping times for consumers across the region, they said.
• But some labor groups and environmental advocates have been sharply critical of the deal, citing what they call Amazon’s poor record on worker safety and warning of increased population for nearby neighborhoods.
• Workers for Amazon’s 53 New Jersey facilities suffered 1,605 workplace injuries in 2021, according to a report touted in April by Make the Road. That was nearly twice the injury rate of all other New Jersey warehouse workers last year, the report said.

End of Tax Incentive Threatens New York Rentals

    (WSJ    7/13 )

• NYC’s multifamily development faces unsettled future following the expiration of the main tax incentive for affordable housing, real-estate investors and analysts say.
• The affordable New York tax provision known as 421a offered a property-tax exemption for housing projects in NYC that include a percentage of units earmarked for lower-income renters. Nearly 70% of rental housing built over the past decade used the tax abatement.
• But 51-year-old program expired in June when state lawmakers ended their session without renewing or replacing it. That left plenty of NYC developers scrambling to complete rental projects that started before the provision lapsed or switching gears and building other types of properties.
• At the end of 1^st Qt, NYC issued 38.1% more permits than the same time last year, according to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board.
• Real-estate investors had to install a project’s foundation with a permit before June 15, and will have to complete the construction before June 15, 2026, to receive tax break.
• Some officials say the rise in building permits will keep it going long enough to buy time before the tax program’s absence is felt in housing supply, and there will still be a patchwork of tax support that housing projects can rely on without 421a.

NYC DEP announced new Flood Map

   (Korea Daily   7/8)

• DEP announced the flood map on the website (experience.arcgis.com/experience/6f4cc60710dc433585790cd2b4b5dd0e ) on 7/6/2022. This map indicates the area which can accumulate from 4 inches up to 1 feet when 2 inches rain falls.
• The map included Main Street and Union Street in Flushing, Roosevelt Ave, 162 street in Murray Hills, Sanford Ave and 43rd Ave, LIRR Auburndale station, etc.
• Eric Adam Admin said there were 13 casualties and tens of thousands homes were flooded due to Ida hurricane last year and they will prepare for future disaster.
• NY State pursued legalization of the illegal basement housing again, but it was dropped from the budget plan for 2021 – 2022.

Beloved Japanese store DAISO (다이소) is opening its first ever in Manhattan  

 (Korea Daily   7/8)

• Japanese discount store Daiso already operates locations in Queens and Brooklyn, Edgewater in NJ – but it’s now time for it to invade Manhattan as well.
• The beloved chain is slated to open its 4,800 sf space at 220 East 57 Street by Third Ave this July.
• Shoppers will get to browse through delicious Japanese snacks, items for home, inexpensive toys, affordable cosmetics, useful baking and art-and-craft tools, tableware, stationary, organizing products and much more.
• Given the fact that Daiso operates 3,620 stores in Japan, plus 2,272 others around world (including 88 in US), customers can rest assured that the company knows exactly what it is doing.

Housing Likely to Fuel Inflation Figures

(WSJ   7/13)

• Climbing housing costs are set to keep inflation elevated this year, creating another challenge for the Fed officials who want to see signs that price pressures are easing before slowing their interest rate increase.
• Overall annual inflation rose to 8.6% in May, while core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, hit 6%, according to the labor Dept’s consumer price index. The June figures are set to be released Wednesday.
• Housing inflation is important because it represents around two-fifths of core CPI and one-sixths of the Fed’s referred inflation gauge, the personal-consumption expenditure price index.
• Fed officials raised their benchmark interest rate by 0.75% last month and have signaled that they are likely to do so again at their July 26-27 meeting. They have indicated that they could slow the pace of rate rises after that.
• Recent data have suggested consumer spending shifting away from goods, which saw big price increase last year, and toward services.

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