Weekly News (January 16, 2019)

  1. NYC charged $21M to a RE brokerage company for illegal house sharing biz
  • Metropolitan Property Group conducted Airbnb biz with 34 buildings in Kips bay Manhattan, etc.
  • They used 18 different names to Airbnb, and used 130 apartment as hotel room
  • According to NYC summon, the company rented 13,691 illegally /received 75,000 guests between 2015 and 2018, and gained $21M income
  • Some guests were instructed that they do not disclose their use of Airbnb services

 

  1. Nong Shim will build 2nd factory in NJ or Washing DC area
  • 1st factory is in LA
  • The cost for 2nd factory will be about $100M
  • The company forecasted that LA factory cannot meet increasing US demand in Canada and Central America market
  • Sale in 2015 was $105.6M and it grew to $225M by 44.2% for last 3 years
  • In US, Nong Shim takes 15% market share of Ramyun market which is 3rd

 

  1. House price in Flushing /Bayside NY dropped by 2 digit number
  • 4th Qt price in NE Queens (Flushing, College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, etc) are down by 10% from a year ago (median price to $688,000)
  • Price in dense Korean population area dropped to $724,153 by 4.2% from a year ago, dropped by 2.9% from the last Qt
  • Condo median price is $605,000, dropped by 11%/ sales volume dropped to 373 units by 26.6% from a year ago
  • 4th Qt Manhattan, median price is $999,00, dropped by 5.8% from a year ago/ sales volume dropped by 3.3% to 2,432
  • 4th Qt Brooklyn, median price is $785,000, increased by 1.9% from a year ago/ Sales volume dropped by 5.8% to 2,474

 

  1. SBA loan process stopped due to Government shut down: 26th day
  • Those loans approved before 12/22 will get funding, but application submitted after 12/22 stopped for further process
  • Even after shut down stopped and government service resumed, still so many applications backed up might create big delay
  • Many Korean Banks also are damaged due to stopped SBA loans because the fees were big portion of their profits
  • In Southern California, 11 banks processed 1,469 SBA loans, worth of $1.3B
  • No salary for 800,000 Federal employees due to this longest shut down. Many people are looking for part time temporary job

 

  1. Mortgage rate is lowest during last 9 months
  • It went down to below 4.5%
  • Freddie Mac announced nationwide average rate reached to 4.45% for 30 year which is 0.06% down from last week’s rate (4.51%) –  was 4.99% a year ago
  • 15 year rate is 3.89% which is 0.4% down from last week’s rate (3.99%) –  was 3.44% a year ago
  • According to Freddie Mac’s chief economist Sam Carter, mortgage application went up by 20%
  • Lower rate combining with income increase and low energy cost will lead RE market positively

 

  1. Median income per family increased by 1.8% in 2017 in US
  • Median income is $61,372 which is increased by 1.8% from last year – highest increase ever
  • Age between 22-37(M Gen)’s median income is $69,000 – highest income for last 50 year
  • Age between 54-72(Baby Boomer generation)’s median income is $77,600/ $75,800 in 2000
  • Age between 38-53(X generation)’s median income is $85,800/ $86,200 in 2000
  • Buying power is not increased as income increased because school expenses, medical expenses, and child care are increased with much higher rates

 

  1. Foreign companies in China are slowing down
  • Apple’s iPhone sales in China lowered its forecast this year
  • According to Goldman Sachs, next one would be Starbucks in China, and they suggested “modest adjustment” for Starbucks stock rather than “buying”
  • Starbucks currently is operating 3600 stores and plan to double the numbers in 4 year
  • Volkswagen, Ford, GM are experiencing slow sales

 

  1. China RE market make the rest of the world worry
  • Julong, China, 45 min driving distance away from Nanjing has developed 120 buildings in the International district, but sales dropped dramatically recently
  • In China urban area, 1 out of 5 apartments are vacant
  • In Julong, China, developer lowered the pre-sale price and purchaser’s value dropped already, which is creating angry buyerà 6 times demonstration to complain about price down after purchasing apartment (Julong’s population is about 600,000)
  • RE market is critical component which takes 20-30% of China’s economic growth
  • RE assets is most important asset in a family which takes 85% of family assets
  • RE sales dropped significantly since September 2018, especially after trade ware against US

 


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