Weekly News (March 16, 2022)

Interest Rate (11th Week)

(By Fairway Home Loan )

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

• 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

   Edgewater Redevelopment project got sued again

( Korea Daily  3/11 )

• The redevelopment project at 615 River Rd, former HESS refinery, includes 1200 residential units, 200,000 sf of retail stores, 2 Ac of playground and parks, and ferry terminal, etc. Also this project has 180 units for low-income families, which is 30%, and a plan to donate 5 Ac lot to public schools.
• The previous land owner claimed town decision was unfair: when he owned the lots the town did not allow zoning variance and they allowed the variance to residential when new owner applied.
• Also Cliffside Park town and some business owners including SoJo owner, sued the developer claiming that the project obstructs the view of Manhattan.
• The future of the redevelopment project is unclear.

  Housing Wealth Flowed to Affluent in the Past Decade

( WSJ  3/10 )

• The past decade’s booming residential real-estate market has enriched almost every U.S. homeowners, but the gains have largely benefited the wealthiest, a new analysis shows.
• From 2010 to 2020, about 71% of the increase in housing wealth was gained by high-income households, according to a report released Wednesday by NAR. Overall, the total value of owner-occupied homes in the U.S. rose $8.2T over the decade to $24.1T.
• Those wealth gains have continued in the past two years, as housing prices have surged because of robust demand and limited supply.
• In 2010, high-income homeowners held 28% of all U.S. housing wealth. By 2020, that figure rose to 42.6%.
• The U.S. homeownership rate peaked at 69.2% in 2004 before sliding below 63% in 2016, as millions of households went through foreclosure or exited homeownership during the housing crash recession. It has risen sine then to 65.5% in the fourth Qt of last year, according to Census Bureau.
• Middle-income and low-income households’ share of total housing wealth declined in the decade ended in 2020 because they made up a smaller proportion of overall homeowners than they did in 2010, NAR said.

   EB-5 Investment rose the amount to $800,000 and $1.05M

( Korea Times 3/15 )

• EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 resumed the program which was stopped June 2021.
• The EB-5 Reauthorization extends the EB-5 Regional Center program through Sep 30, 2027. Most notably, the minimum EB-5 investment amount would increase to $800,000 from the current $500,000 for the Targeted Employment area and Rural area and $1.05M from the current $1M for Non-Targeted Employment Area for both regional center and direct EB-5 investment.

   Yield on 10-year Treasury Hits Highest Mark in Years

( WSJ  3/15  )

• Yield on US government bonds have surged back to their highest levels since 2019, reflecting investor’s growing bets that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine won’t slow the momentum toward higher interest rates. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note settled at 2.139%, up from 2.004% Friday and its highest close since June 2019.
• Yields, which rise when bond prices fall, had climbed sharply over the first six weeks of the year as investors ratcheted up expectations for interest-rate increases from the Fed. They then fell – with the 10-year yield settling as low as 1.722% — as Russia’s invasion sent cash flowing into safer assets.
• But yield have surged over the past week, with investors increasingly nervous that the isolation of Russia will add to inflation by boosting commodity prices.
• As of Monday, interest-rate derivatives showed that traders think there is a nearly 69% chance that the Fed will raise rates to at least 1.75% up this year from 31% a week ago, according to CME Group data. FOMC meeting are being held on 3/15 and 3/16.

  Airbnb for Offices Draws Interest

( WSJ  3/16 )

• Entrepreneurs have long sought to create a big online listing site for office space similar to how Booking.com or Airbnb Inc. offer lodging options.
• Flexible-office operator IWG PLC. said last week that it is investing around $325M into a venture with the Instant Group, which runs an online listing site for office.
• While a number of listing sites for office space exist, none has so far managed to emulate the success of Airbnb or Booking.com. Flexible spaces grew in the years before the pandemic, but they are still a small part of the office sector and the more common long-term leases still depend on brokers.
• The online marketplace will include offices managed by companies like IWG and We Work as well as hotel conference rooms and unused corporate office space, said Instant Group’s CEO for the Americas, Joe Bradly. The new company will also offer other products and services including software to help companies manage remote work, he added.

  Bitcoin Price Soars On a Biden Order Seen as Friendly

( WSJ  3/10 )

• Bitcoin’s price surged on President Biden’s executive order to study digital currencies, a move the industry welcomed and skeptics decried as delaying needed regulation.
• The order, titled “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” directed agencies across the federal government to produce reports on digital currencies and consider new regulations. It outlined the risks cryptocurrencies pose to the economy, national security and climate, while also noting their possible benefits.
• Also it asked agencies to review the possibility of issuing a digital version of the dollar, tasking the Justice Department with assessing whether it would require new legislation and possibly preparing such legislation.
• As details from executive order leaked overnight, the price of bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, rose almost 9%. Bitcoin’s price was $41,910 Wednesday evening, according to CoinDesk.
• “Leading up to this executive order, the narrative that had been circulating was that the admin was set to crack down on crypto” Mr. Reiners, executive director of Duke Univ School of Law’s Global Financial Market Center, said. “This executive order is a complete 180 degree from that,” he said. “This is as close as you could have hoped for from this Biden admin, if you’re pro-crypto.”

     Others/Tech News: Bill for Permanent “Summer time” system passed:

– The bill is passed in the Senate.

– Still it must be passed in the House and get President’s sign.

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