Weekly News (November 24, 2021)

This week’s Interest Rate (47th  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.
• 2022 Conventional loan limit:  Conforming SFR : $625,000/ Conforming High balance: $937,500 / Confirming 2 Family: $702,000/ Conforming High Balance: $1,053,000

Bank Chief Faces Changed Economy

(WSJ  11/23 )

• Biden reappointed Jerome Powell, a lawyer by training, as chair of Federal Reserve. Over the first term in office, Jerome Powell became arguably the most dovish chairman in the Fed’s modern history, giving priority to full employment in an era in which inflation seemed extinct. But in his second term, he might have to execute the reverse: giving priority to inflation at the risk of sacrificing jobs.
• Many progressives had urged Mr. Biden to replace Mr. Powell, a Republican, with Ms. Brainard, a Democrat who has been more proactive on climate and regulation. Trump had set the precedent, replacing Democratic economist Janet Yellen, now Mr. Biden’s Treasury secretary, with Mr. Powell as Fed chief.
• While Mr. Powell lacks his predecessors’ economic credentials, he makes up with exceptional political acumen. He resisted Mr. trump’s pressure without alienating other Republicans. He meets regularly with legislators from both parties and is likely to be confirmed with widespread bipartisan support.

Commercial Real Estate Activities in 3rd Qt are soaring

(Korea Daily  11/23  )

• According to Real Capital Analytics, sales in commercial real estate reached to $193B which is up 19% compared to 3rd Qt in 2019. Sales in three quarters from 1^st Qt through 3^rd Qt increased 10% to $461B compared to the same period in 2019.
• Real Capital Analytics said not only apartments or warehouses, but also office buildings and strip malls become very active. Green Street, real estate information analysis company, said commercial real estate index rose 22% compared to last summer and 8% compared to pre-pandemic.
• CEO of A Core Capital, who is running $18B worth of bridge loans, mentioned that Delta variant has been subdued and they will keep the same level of investment in the 4^th

Real-Estate Tech Fundraising Soars To record in 2021

(WSJ   11/23  )

• Growing landlord demand for better data, new apps and other real-estate technology is fueling a boom in proptech and attracting record sums of capital into the sector during the pandemic. Venture capitalists and other investors pour $9.5B into proptech through mid-November, according to data from CB Insights. That is the most ever raised in any year, topping the $9B invested in the sector for all of 2019, the previous record.
• Mall owners are looking to data analytics and new technologies that combine online retail and bricks-and-mortar stores. Office landlords are turning to technology as they try to lure businesses back to workspaces after more than 18 months of working from home.
• Proptech has been making strides on the residential side, too. Place, a company that provides technology and business services for home sales agents, said in Wednesday that it closed a $100M funding round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, valuing the firm at $1B.

SamSung Plans Texas Chip Plant

(WSJ    11/23  )

• SamSung Electronics Co. plans to build a roughly $17B chip-making plant in Taylor, Texas, according to people familiar with the matter, a largest investment by the South Korean tech company as the Biden admin pushes for an expansion of U.S. semiconductor production.
• The Taylor facility, located in central Texas, plans to create around 1,800 jobs, though chip production isn’t expected to start until the end of 2024, according to SamSung had previously filed with Texas authorities. Taylor, a town of about 16,000 people in Williamson County, is about 30 miles away from Austin.  The planned site of roughly 1,200 Ac is much larger than SamSung’s property in Austin.
• To woo SamSung, Taylor had offered incentives that include the equivalent of property-tax breaks of as much as 92.5% for the first 10 years, with the write-offs gradually declining over the next several decades.
• SamSung, the world’s largest semiconductor maker by revenue, plans to invest more than $205B over the next three years.

(NYT  11/24)

• The plan in Taylor will be the latest to be built in America in recent years. Intel broke ground this year on two new factories on an existing campus in Arizona. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is also building a new plant in the state.

CVS to Close 900 Stores in Shift Toward Offering Medical Services

(WSJ   11/19 )

• CVS Health Corp. said Thursday it will close 900 stores over the next three years, nearly 10% of its U.S. locations, while adding more health services at remining locations.
• The largest U.S. pharmacy chain said it would close 300 stores a year while adding primary – care offices at certain sites as well as converting more stores into so-called health hubs with offerings such as diagnostic testing, mental-health services and hearing exam.
• CVS, which acquired insurance giant Aetna in 2018, initially said it didn’t need primary-care doctors or practices to become a go-to for medical services, especially for those with costly chronic conditions. But the company reversed course in recent weeks and said it aims to add primary-care physicians to its rolls given the central role the doctors play in determining a patient’s overall medical regimen.

Wealthy nations compete to lure foreign workers

( NYT   11/24 )

• As the global economy heats up and tries to put the pandemic aside, a battle for the young and able has begun. With the fast-track visas and promises of permanent residency, many of the wealthy nations driving the economy are sending a message to skilled immigrants all over the world: Help wanted. Now.
• In Germany, where officials recently warned that the country needs 400,000 new immigrants a year to fill jobs in fields ranging from academia to air-conditioning, a new Immigrant Act offers accelerated work visas and six months to visit and find a job.
• Canada plans give residency to 1.2M new immigrants by 2023. Israel recently finalized a deal to bring health care workers from Napal.
• The global drive to attract foreigners with skills, especially those that fall somewhere between physical labor and a physics Ph.D., aims to smooth out a bumpy emergence from pandemic.
• President Biden is trying to unclog what’s already there. The Admin’s $2.2T social policy bill, if it passes a divided Senate, would free up hundreds of thousands of green cards available for immigrants currently caught up in a bureaucratic backlog.
• For those countries where immigrants often come from, the broader openness to skilled migration poses the risk of brain drain, but also offers a release valve for the young and frustrated.

President To Tap U.S. Oil Reserves 

(WSJ  11/24 )

• S. and other countries plan to tap their national strategic petroleum reserves in an attempt bring down gasoline prices that have become a sore spot with motorists and a big contributor to inflation, President Biden said Tuesday.
• On Tuesday, U.S. crude futures climbed 2.3% to settle at $78.50 a barrel. That price is up 75% from a year ago.
• Biden predicted that the added supply would lead to lower prices, but wholesale crude prices on financial markets rose after Tuesday’s announcement.
• Even if crude prices do fall, relief for consumers might be short-lived as demand is expected to keep rising into next year as global economy continues its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Biden called last week on the Fed Trade Commission to investigate whether oil-and-gas companies were illegally keeping gas prices high, a request that some observed was part of the standard playbook for presidents facing political fallout from rising gas prices.
• In recent months, the White house had urged the OPEC and its allies to increase output more than they had initially planned, contending that there wasn’t enough oil to meet demand as the global economy rebounds from the pandemic.

U.S. Covid-19 Positives reached to 90,000 per day

(Korea Times   11/22  )

• According to NYT on 20th, daily new positives as of 19th during last seven days rose 30% to 93,196 compared to two weeks ago. It was 94,669 on 18th.
• The positives due to Delta variant as the 4th wave hit the record at 175,000 on 9/13/2021 and then started decreasing after that peak point. While the 4th wave was focused on South area, this time it happens more North and North East in mostly cold weather area.
• In NY, new positives were 6,857 on 21st and the hospitalization patients are 2,292 which is up 20% from the last week.
• In NJ, the positives were 1,953 on 20th which was up 31% from a week ago, and they are continually increased for 11 days in a row.