Weekly News (September 11, 2019)

This week’s Interest Rate

   30 Y Rate: 3.625%/  15 Year Rate:3.125%/ 10 Y Treasury: 1.628%/  Prime Rate:5.25%
Ref IR: 2.00- 2.25%

6 new apartment buildings, total 1200 units, will be developed in Teaneck, NJ

(The  Korea Times   9/7)

• According to the Record on 6th, 600 units apartment building will be constructed on State Street in Teaneck.  Also 36 units of mixed use building and 68 unit apartment building on State street received the town permits.  In addition, 224 unit apartment complex will be built at 1500 Teaneck Road, and 128 unit apartment will be constructed on Palisade Ave.
• A senior apartment will be also built at 1425 Teaneck Road.
• Town government mentioned that these serious of development project will lower single house resident’s property tax and increase low-income housing.

NYC , Rent is still high, 2nd place in US

(The Korean Times  9/11)

• NYC rent median price is over $3000 and keeps continuous moving up.  According to Jumper, Real Estate professional site, median rent in San Francisco is $3,540, highest in US, and 2nd place is NYC($3,000).  The 3rd place is San Jose($2,520).
• NYC 1 bedroom rent went up by 5.6% from last year while 2 bedroom rent went up by 5.2%.
• San Francisco 2 bedroom rent went up by 1.9% and San Jose 1bedroom rent went up by 1.0%.
• The reason of NYC rent in moving up line is that NYC built more new apartment complexes.

The Short Hill Mall, NJ gets 9000 solar panels

(The Record  9/11)

• The system will fulfill a portion of the mall’s energy requirement, not 100% of it.  The 3.49 megawatts system will produce up to 4.2M kilo-watts of clean energy annually.  That’s equivalent of powering roughly 403 homes for a year.  The solar panels span 225,000 sf across the mall’s roof and parking deck, according to a statement from NY based solar company.
• The system will offset more than 1,900 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
• The short Hill mall is 1.4M sf, 2 story building and opened in 1980.
• The Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus initiated the solar panel project scheduled in completion in 2020.

Ariana Grande(26), singer, songwriter, and actress sued Forever 21 for $10M     

     (The Korea  Daily  9/5 )

• Ariana Grande filed sue for embezzlement of her name and photos by Forever 21 to California State Federal court.  Forever 21 responded that the company  have operated with Grande’s licensing company and the company has supported her, and want to resolve the matter smoothly.
• Owner and founder Chang, DoWon and Chang Jin Sook have operated more than 800 stores world wide and 500 in US among them.
• Recently the company is facing financial difficulty and trying to do re-structuring including possible bankruptcy.

Starbucks opens the biggest store (43,056 sf) in Chicago, US

(The Korea Time  9/9)

• The company opens 4 floors 43,056 sf mega Starbucks store, called The Chicago Roastery” in “magnificent Mile” business district on Michigan Ave in Chicago.  This 4 floor glass wall Starbucks store in the stand alone building is the biggest store in the world while the size of Starbucks in Shanghai, opened in 2017, is 30,000 sf.
• Total employees are 200 in the store and they serve coffee beans, coffee roasting, interactive tour, inspirational Chicago cultured food and brinks.
• The company is pursuing not only providing good coffee, but also experiential space and romance.

Transfer Tax of foreigner property in Korea becomes unreasonably high 

(The Korea Daily  9/6)

• When foreigners sell their property in Korea, transfer tax will be charged depending on resident status or non-resident status: if they will stay in Korea for 183 days or more in Korea along with family who live or work together, transfer tax might be exempted.  If it is not exempted, transfer tax can be close to 40% of sale price.
• In the past, transfer tax was exempted if the following conditions have been satisfied: 1) 1 property per person, 2) has own it for more than 3 years 3) has lived for more than 2 years.
• A Korean who is US citizen even has filed a petition to the Blue House for exemption of transfer tax. (he owned a property and lives in US as renter)

Wall Street Journal forecasted FRR(Federal Reference Rate) drop by 0.25%

(The Korea Daily 9/6)

• WSJ anticipated FOMC, which will beheld on 17th – 18th September, will drop the FRR by 0.25% rather than 0.5%.  The idea of dropping of aggressive 0.5% might not be favored by many members.  FOMC has dropped FRR by 0.25% at the previous meeting at the end of August to 2.00 – 2.25%.

Mortgage Rate has been dropped significantly this week   

(The Korea Daily  9/6)

• Freddie Mac has announced 30 fixed rate to 3.49% (0.1% drop) and 15 fixed rate to 3.00% (0.06% drop).  This rate is lowest rates since October 2016. 15 fixed rate has dropped by almost 1% from last year rates. (3.99%)

Banks are providing special benefits to (first) home buyers      

(The Korea Times  9/9)

• According USA Today report, BOA acknowledged 69% of potential buyers are facing difficulty for deposit money (down payment) and transaction cost and the banks is supporting $5B funds to help home buyer in NY, LA, and other area.  Through tis program the bank is supporting 3% of the purchasing price, up to $10,000, for home buyers.
• Also the bank supports up to $7,500 for transaction fees for home buyers and waives fees for loans through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mai which can save about $1000.  For some qualified buyers, they can help up to $17,500.
• Chase bank provides “DreamMaker Mortgage Program” which the bank supports up to 3% of the purchase price.  The bank pays $500 transaction fee for buyers who took the classes.  Also banks provide up to $2,500 for low and medium incomers.

Other/Tech News : Apple announced iPhone 11 /IPhone Pro /iPhone ProMax

• 12M pixel resolution dual camera.
• Battery life increased by 4 – 5 hours.
• 1 inch iPhone 11:$699.00 /iPhone Pro:$999.00/ iPhone ProMax:$1099.00