Weekly News (August 25, 2021)

 

This week’s Interest Rate (34th Week)

(By Fairway Home Loan)

   30 yr fx(%)  15 yr fx(%) FHA(%) 10 yr Tr Y (%)
A year ago      2.875       2.490     2.625          0.682
A month ago      2.699       2.225     2.375          1.246
Last week      2.750       2.125     2.375          1.253
This week      2.750       2.125     2.375          1.289

 

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

  • 3% Down payment for 1st home buyer is available
  • Potential home buyer — Have a pre-approval first before the shop.  Now we have 48hour underwriting turn-around times for regular loans
  • 2021 Conventional loan limit:
  • Conforming SFR: $548,250/ Conforming high balance: $882,375
  • Confirming 2 Family: $702,000/ Confirming High Balance: $1,053,000

 

NJ, Marijuana Sale Guideline Draft is issued

(Korea Daily 8/23)

  • According to Marijuana guideline draft by NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission, they will approve 37 Marijuana farming licenses in NJ till Feb 2023. There will be no limit on manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, and retail licenses
  • njgov/cannabis/resources/rules
  • Starting date of retail will be confirmed later, but it has to be within 180 days after the guideline has been issued

(Korea Times 8/24)

  • However, among 565 towns in NJ, about 400 towns, which is more than 70%, have decided not to allow retail and distribution of Marijuana. These towns include Palisades Park, Ridgefield, Leonia, Tenafly, Edgewater, Englewood Cliffs, Norwood, Closter, etc. Fort Lee allows only medical use, meanwhile Hackensack, Cliffside Park, and Teaneck allow recreational use as well.

 

Luxury Senior Housing with 195 units will come to Closter, NJ

(Record 8/25)

  • Luxury senior housing complex would replace 5 manufacturing buildings located within the Reuten Corporate Park under a proposal before the Closter Borough. Reuten Associates and Metropolis Property Group will present plans for 195-unit senior housing complex at the Sept.9 meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
  • The plan includes outdoor fountains, courtyards, gardens, walking trails and swimming pool. The complex would be built on a 6 Ac property at 231 and 239 Herbert Ave in downtown Closter, replacing the post-World War II-era manufacturing buildings.
  • The senior housing development would be set up for independent living, assisted living, and memory care.

 

Brookfield’s Manhattan West Steps into Next Phase: Food  

(WSJ    8/25)

  • The $4.5B New York development known as Manhattan West is opening its food hall and other restaurants next month, testing the city’s appetites when most office workers remain at home or out of town.
  • The developer Brookfield Properties provides different attractions range from lush public spaces to a 30,000sf art installation of featuring of plaster lemons. The 8 Ac project (between 10th Ave and 9th Ave, between 33rd St and 31st St) has been in the making since the mid-1980s. When completed in 2023, it will include 4 office buildings with 6M sf of space, retail, upscale residential rental units, and a boutique hotel. Manhattan West is opening in phases and is emerging near the city’s other major mixed-use real estate development, Hudson Yards.
  • The pandemic hasn’t appeared to slow Manhattan West’s apartment or office rentals. More than 95% of the development’s 62-story apartment building is leased, according to Brookfield. The office building tower opened in 2019 is fully leased, counting JP-Morgan Chase, and Amazon.com among its tenants. Another office building is 94% leased.

 

More automobile traffic In NYC after the pandemic

(Korea Daily   8/23)

  • According to Crains NY, new car registration is expected to increase 34% in 2021 compared to the last year. New care registration was 406,703; 390,833; 396,972; 400,757 in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 respectively.  This year, new car registration is 314,026 so far and it is estimated 538,330 till the end of this year.
  • This indicates that NYC is being changed to more automobile city than public transportation city which is used to be.
  • Also, traffic toll passing tunnels and bridges is over about 900,000 in July and August, which is similar to level of pre-pandemic while using public transportation is not increased as much as expected. In August, passengers through sub-way are only little over 2M which is only a half of pre-pandemic level.
  • The parking fee payment increased 88% in July compared to July 2019.
  • Accordingly, parking garage business, car wash business, used car dealers and car repair business are also being increased.

 

Soaring house price pushing rent increase

(Korea Times 8/23)

  • Would-be buyers who failed to buy homes move to rent market which pushes high rent: rent demand exceeds available rent properties.
  • According to Real Page Inc, in 2nd Qt, the increased portion of rental units were 500,000 units which is record high since 1993.  Last month, new lease increased 17% which is record high.
  • Moreover, owners, who own rental properties for investment, want to sell their investment properties in order to get profit from soared home price, which decrease rental property inventory.
  • Also, since there will be more home owners waiting for the end of eviction moratorium might want to sell their homes after they resolve the current problems with tenants.

 

U.S. housing market remained strong: Residential sales Up and home price Up

(WSJ / Korea Times   8/23)

  • According to NAR report on 23rd, Sales in July rose 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.99M compared to the last month, which is highest for last 4 months and exceeded Bloomberg’s forecast of 5.83M.
  • Residential inventory was 1.32M which shows 8.3% increase from a prior month and at the highest level since last October, which was considered as a partial reason of sales increase.
  • Median home price rose 17.8% in July from a year ago, to $359,900.
  • Lawrence Yun said that residential market become stable and less heated than before.
  • Many homes are still selling above listing price and receiving multiple offers. The typical home sold in July was on the market for 17 days, the same as the prior month, NAR said.

(Record 8/25)

  • Sales of new homes rose 1% in July to annual rate of 708,000 after 3 months of decline.
  • According to Commerce Dept.

 

Others/Tech News: Tesla will make a prototype “Tesla Bot” Humanoid in 2022

5 feet 8 inches tall, 125 pounds

    • can move at about 5 miles per hour
    • can carry up to 45 pounds
    • can lift 150-pound object and arm extended lift of 10 pounds

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