Weekly News (November 20, 2019)

This week’s Interest Rate (45th Week)

30 Y Rate: 3.750%/ 15 Year Rate:3.150%/ 10 Y Treasury: 1.786%/  Prime Rate:4.75%
Ref IR: 1.50- 1.75%

 

SamSung has opted to keep its North American HQ in Ridgefield Park

(The  Costar  11/18)

  • SamSung signed up with Landlord KABR Group for currently occupied 235,000 sf at 85 Challenger Rd, Ridgefield Park.  When SamSung moved in this building in 2010, the KABR has provided very attractive deal because the company looked to buy distressed office properties at bargain prices on Challenger Rd at Overpeck Corporate center, and then improvements and offer below-market rents to turn them around.
  • The lease renewal represents a win for New Jersey, which in the past decade has seen a number of companies exit their corporate HQ, including Hertz, Mercedes-Benz.

 

DK Cosmetics, a South Korean company bought a commercial condo at $895/sf in Midtown, Manhattan

(The  NYT  11/20)

  • DK Cosmetics bought a 10th floor commercial condo of 13,966 sf at 20 West 33rd Street between Fifth Ave and Broadway at $12.5 M($895/sf).  The building is 13-story building and it was built in 1912.
  • Buyer broker was Rachel Kim of Zelink & Company and seller broker was Carter Lovejoy of Avison Young’s Tri-State Investment Sales Group.
  • DK Cosmetics moved into 734 Grand Ave, Ridgefield, NJ on 5/1/2017. They leased 21,340 sf of warehouse.  The company provides brands such as Seoulful, Derma DrLab, Club Clio, JKNLee, Doodall, Peripero, and Clio Professional.

 

Palisades Park, voting rate is lowest in 3 years

  (The  Korea Times 11/19)

  • At the recent annual voting date on 11/5/2019, Palisades Park town shows 19.9% voting rate which was lowest since 2016: 1828 voted while total registered voters are 9143.
  • It is interestingly low considering that there was a major school renovation budget issue.
  • Last year the voting rate was 52% when there was a major issue for Mayor election.
  • Englewood Cliffs voting rate was 56.5% while Fort Lee was 24.3%, Ridgefield was 24.8%, Leonia was 26.4%, Tenafly was 35.1%, and total Bergen county was 28.7%.

 

Driverless bus will be tested between NJ and Manhattan from June 2020

(The Korea Daily   11/20)

  • The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will begin self-driving bus in 2.5 mile section between NJ Turnpike and Lincoln tunnel from June 2020 with $5.3M budget.  During this test period, one lane will be designated between 6:00am between 10 pm.
  • No passengers will be on board and there will be a driver when actual self-driving bus will be used for passengers for a while.
  • Currently there are 1850 buses and they can increase 200 buses for rush hours which will increase 10,000 passengers.
  • The question remains that who will be responsible for installing necessary equipment on the roads.

 

NJ Transit hires Chief of Real Estate (CRE)

(The  Record  11/20)

  • NJ Transit hires Carmen Traveras, as Chief of Real Estate, who has more than 20 years of experience and recently worked for Wereldhave USA, a subsidiary of a Europe-based real estate investment trust. She will be paid an annual salary of $175,000.
  • Her position at NJ Transit was created via legislation about a year ago, requiring the agency to create an office that would focus on real estate, economic development and transit-oriented development.
  • While at Wereldhave, Traveras oversaw the sale of 20 Exchange Place, 56-story office tower in New York City’s financial district and the development of120 acres of raw land in San Antonio, TX.

 

Pocket Listing will be disappeared from May 2020

(The Korea Daily  11/19)

  • NAR has passed the regulation to prevent “Pocket Listing” on 11/11/2019.  The regulation specifies that Broker and agent must upload their listings to pertinent MLS in a day.
  • This regulation will be effective on 5/1/2020 by each local MLS site.

 

US home building starts climbed 3.8% in October

(The  Record  11/20)

  • US home building jumped 3.8% in October, a positive sign for overall economy as developers anticipate steady demand.  The Commerce Department announced that housing starts reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.31M.
  • Starts for single-family houses were up by 2%, largely because of construction in the West and South.  Construction of apartment buildings rose 6.8% from last month.
  • Lower mortgage rates and a healthy job market have aided in housing market.
  • Affordability is a problem for would-be buyers as increases in home prices have outstripped wage growth.
  • Building permits, a measure of future construction, rose 5% in October to 1.46M.

 

Next year, home prices will move up by 5.6%

( The Korea Daily 11/18)

  • Nationwide home prices will show climbing up until next year, according to CoreLogic.
  • CoreLogic announced that home prices in September rose 3.5%, compared to last year same period and they forecasted it will move up by 5.6% September next year.
  • They mentioned that mortgage interest rates has lowered by 1% from a year ago and that reduce the burden for first home buyers which induce home owner rate increase.
  • During last one year, home prices in Washington DC rose 3.5% while Denver was by 3.4%, Boston and Miami was by 2.8%, Houston was by 2.5%, LA was by 2.2%, San Diego was by 2%, and San Francisco was by 1.2%.

 

Other/Tech News : 2019 Income Tax Rate

  (Jointly report)
12%    Up to $19,400             22%     Up to $78,950
24%   Up to $169,400           32%     Up to $321,450
35%   Up to $408,200           37%     Up to $612,350

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