Weekly News (February 26, 2020)

This week’s Interest Rate (9th Week)

(Fairway Asset)

30 Y Rate: 3.250%/ 15 Year Rate:2.875%/ 10 Y Treasury: 1.377%/  FHA:3.125%/  VA:2.875%
Prime Rate:4.75% / Ref IR: 1.50- 1.75%

 

Palisades Park parents want action on school crowding

(The Record  2/25)

  • Parents are asking school district to take immediate action to address overcrowding in class rooms and lunchrooms.  Neris Rapoter and her husband have collected over 300 names for the petition.  They lived in the town for over 20 years and purchased a house to root in town.  They fear that the school crowding will also hurt their property values if immediate action isn’t taken. Korean residents are helping to sign the petition.
  • The district tried to fix the overcrowding problem last fall with a $61M spending proposal that failed at the polls.
  • Last school year’s graduating class had 92 students, but incoming kindergarten class totaled 168.  The district has a total of 1,800 student and 200 of them in preschool and kindergarten.
  • The population took a steep jump from 14,500 in 1990s, to more than 20,000 now, according to census data.

 

LIBOR and HGAR have formed new regional MLS system, OneKey MLS

(The OneKey MLS  2/25 )

  • HGAR board supports Rockland Co, Orange Co, Westchester Co, Putnam Co, Sullivan Co. and LIBOR board supports Nassau Co, Suffolk Co, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan boroughs.
  • Over 44,000 Realtors will use OneKey MLS.
  • The system will go-live on Tuesday, March 24th, 2020. (See the Video clip)

 

ADM will be open in March officially : It will be successful?

(The Korea Daily 2/24)

  • Triple Five has invested $5B to the project through 20 year struggle, and opened partially last year.  Total lease space is 3M sf including 180K sf Big Snow America, 8 Ac Dreamworks Water Park, Nickelodeon Universe, 236 feet Observation Wheel, Aquarium, Ice Rink, etc. Currently 90% space is leased out.
  • 450 retail stores have lease agreement and 17,000 employees will be hired.
  • Some worries for ADM are 1. Existence of Amazon  Nearby mega-shopping malls:  Short Hills mall, Garden State Plaza mall.
  • It will open in March officially.

 

Foreclosure in Manhattan is increased sharply 

(The  Korea Time   2/25)

  • According to PropertyShark, foreclosures in Manhattan were 149 which is up by 42 (39%) from last year while foreclosures in Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn were decreased.
  • Total NYC foreclosures were decreased by 6%. Foreclosures in NYC was 3,307 in 2017. It was decreased to 3,237 in 2018, and 3,056 in 2019.

 

The “Edge” observation deck in Hudson Yard will be open in March

(The  Korea Times  2/25)

  • The height of observation deck “Edge” in Hudson Yard is 1131 ft (344m) which is the highest in New York.  Tourists can see the street view of Manhattan through the reinforced glass floor.
  • The 3 decks with most beautiful skyline view are the Edge, Empire State building deck, and Rockefeller Center building deck, the Top of the rock” ( 70th floor, 849 ft)

 

Queens, NY is recognized as Hot Place for RE market

(The Korea Times  2/20)

  • While houses which are sold at above listing prices are reduced nationwide, houses in Queens are sold higher price than ever. According to Elliman, the median price for 3 months(Oct-Dec, 2019)  was $610,000 which is up by 7.4% from last year. And number of sales is also increased to 3,468 which is up by 6.8%.
  • In Queens, North West are a(Astoria, LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside) house price rose up by 13.3% to the median price of $881,975. Sales also is increased by 40.6% to 357.  LIC median price rose by 16.1% to $1052,740. And sales rose by 128 (35%).   Rockaway median price was $510,000 which was lowest in Queens, and is up by 14.6%.
  • In Manhattan, the median price stays the same and sales is reduced by 1.2% during 4th Qt, 2019. North Manhattan (Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights, Fort George, Inwood) was worse than other Manhattan area: the median price was down by 5% and sales was reduced by 4.2%.

 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) might not affect RE Market negatively

( The MIJU Economy  2/21)

  • Spreading COVID-19 is affecting all other area except real estate market due to strong demand, low interest rates, expansion of residential construction with low cost.
  • Real estate market is still hot: in general RE market in Winter season is slow, but this Winter is relatively busy.  NAR will publish sales activity of January soon which is expected to be very positive numbers. This statistics of RE Market will diminish worries of current gloomy economic forecast.
  • Worries on COVID-19 will keep the interest rates low, which will boost residential market.
  • American consumers can order food without going to restaurants and order clothes without going to the store, but consumers still go to Open House even though it means 30 year mortgage burden.
  • According to US Government report, sale of construction materials in Home Depot and Lowes increased 5% even in this winter season.
  • COVID-19 might affect other production and investment sectors adversely while RE market will be main force to sustain strong economic activities, say some experts.

 

S&P CoreLogic home index rose 2.9% in Dec, 2019

(The  Record   2/26)

  • US home prices rose at a faster pace in Dec as mortgage rates remained low and a falling supply of available properties, which triggers bidding wars between buyers.
  • Home price index rose 2.9% in Dec from a year earlier after posting 2.5% gain in November.
  • Price rose in all 20 cities, led by 6.5% increase in Phoenix, 5.3% in Charlotte, 5.2% in Tampa. Prices rose just 1% in Chicago and New York.
  • Just 1.42M homes were on the market at the end of January, down nearly 11% from a year earlier. The limited supply pushes prices higher.

 

Other/Tech News : Coronavirus sickens the stock market

(NYT  2/26)

Fears of Coronavirus might be worse than anticipated prompted a major sell-off in Stocks on Monday.
S&P : 3128 ( -3.03%), DOW: 27,081(-3.15%), NASDAQ:8,965 (-2.77%)

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