Weekly News (October 11, 2023)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review

United Mortgage Nation  10/11/2023

Federal Fund Rate: 5.25% -5.50%        Prime Rate: 8.25%-8.50%

Northern Valley Regional High is the best school in NJ

뉴저지 최고학군에 “노던밸리 리저널”

Korea Times   10/5/23

• According to “Niche”, Northern Valley Regional High School District is a top rated, public school district located in DEMAREST, NJ. It has 2,076 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 10 to 1. According to state test scores, 58% of students are at least proficient in math and 71% in reading.
• The 2nd place is the Princeton High and 3rd place is the Milburn High. Ridgewood High becomes 5th and The Tenafly High took 7th. The Riverdell took 21st, Fairlawn took 24th, Glenrock took 26th, and Cresskill took 39th.

The Property invested by Korean Government gets distressed

한국정부 1억불 투자 빌딩 압류위기 

Korea Daily  10/7/2023

• The office building in Chicago invested than $100M by The Korea Post is facing foreclosure due to increased interest rates and vacancy rate.
• According to the Real Deal, CBRE purchased the building in 2013 at about $331M by receiving investment for $130M and $38M from The Korea Post and HyunDai Marine & Fire Insurance respectively. This building had the vacancy rate of 20% for lats two quarters.
• CBRE has put the 49 story building at 161 N. Clark Street, Chicago on the market at $230M, but couldn’t find any buyer. The Korea Post is considering to take over the building or not. Among all real estate investment of the Korea Pension Funds, the portion of investment in US is 38% ($9.5B).

Subway 7 line will be extended to New Jersey?

7번 전철 뉴저지까지 연장되나?

Korea Times   10/5/23

• NJ Politician pursued to request of the subway 7 line to be extended to Secaucus, NJ recently – Bill Pascrell(NJ 9th congressional district) and Rob Menendez(NJ 8th congressional district) sent a letter to MTA.
• They are asking MTA should spend the money if they want to collect about $1B trough urban congestion toll in Manhattan which will begin May, 2024.
• This proposal has been motioned multiple times in the past that the subway 7 line starting Flushing, Queens through Hudson Yards needs to extend to Secaucus, NJ.

Tiny Homes are the Next Big Thing for Homeowners

딸린 작은 독립주거공간이 주택주에게 큰 매

WSJ   10/4/23

• The latest amenity for homeowners is another, smaller home, called ADU(Accessory Dwelling Unit). They can be a free standing miniature homes as small as a studio apartment, or tucked away in back yard,or above a garage or in a basement and extend to more than 2000 sf.
• The proliferation of ADUs comes as homeowners and renters around the U.S. are grappling with a shortage of housing and high home prices. Adding housing units on existing lots is seen by policy makers as a quick way to increase housing supply. California, Oregon, Maine and other states passed laws in recent years to encourage ADU construction.
• A Freddie Mac study in 2020 identified 1.4 million single- family U.S. homes with ADUs, though the actual number could be higher.

Why 8% Mortgage Rates Aren’t Crazy

8% 모기지 이자률까지 갈수도…

WSJ   10/5/23

• Home buyers might wonder whether typical mortgage rates could soon hit 8%. The answer in today’s market is that they might very well get there.
• One big reason is a change in who is buying the government-backed bonds that pool many home loans into investments, which in turn drives the market price of a standard mortgage.
• The current coupon yield on 30year agency MBS was at around 6.4% at the end of September, according to KBW. That was a premium of 1.8 percentage points to the 10-year Treasury yield. On top of that, there is a profit earned by mortgage originators that make the loans and then sell them into the market.

• The end result is that typical 30-year fixed rates on new conforming mortgages, at more than 7.4% at the end of September, according to Intercontinental Exchange rate data.
• This gap of nearly three percentage points is big. The pre-pandemic average from 2017 to 2019 was under two points, according to ICE data. It has narrowed slightly from earlier this year, when mortgage-bond portfolios of distressed banks were being sold off. Still, that raises the possibility that even without more failures, banks moving just to trim their portfolios to raise cash could help keep that gap about where it is— effectively turning just a 5% 10year Treasury yield into an 8% mortgage rate.

30-year mortgage rates versus mortgage-bond and Treasury yields

WSJ 10/5/23

Buyers Still Have Some Room to Negotiate

주택구입, 여전히 협상할 여분있어

WSJ  10/11/23

• Home buyers face steep costs and few options as mortgage rates push 8% and new listings remain scarce. The good news is they may have more leverage than they realize. Sellers are more receptive to certain requests than they were during the height of the pandemic- fueled housing frenzy, since they don’t want to risk losing the deal.

– Consider asking the seller for a credit to use toward closing costs, real estate agents say.

– More lenders, sellers and home builders are offering to help lower a buyer’s mortgage interest rate for a certain period, a move known as a rate              buy-down, according to real-estate agents.

– Sellers are more receptive to making repairs than they were about two years ago.  Consider to ask harder to seller.

Genesis opens own dealer store (building) In Cherry Hills

제너시스, 뉴저지 체리힐에 독립매장 오픈

Korea Daily   10/11/23

• HyunDai Luxury Brand, Genesis opened the own independent dealer store in Cherry Hills, NJ, which is 9th in U.S. and 1st in NJ, at 550 Rt 70 W, Marlton, NJ .
• Celebrating the opening, Genesis donated $20,000 to the youth supporting non-profit organization, Jaws Youth Playbook in order to establish good connection with the community.