Weekly News (September 1, 2021)

This week’s Interest Rate (35th Week)

(By Fairway Home Loan)

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

• 3% Down payment for 1^st home buyer is available
• 5% Down payment 2-4 units FHA program available
• 15% Down payment 2 families -conventional program 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, Eviction moratorium ends as of 8/31/2021

(Korea Times   9/1)

• According the law signed by Gov. Murphy on 8/4, eviction moratorium is expired as of 8/31 with exception for those renters whose income is below 80% of AMI (Area Median Income) can be extended till 12/31/2021
• Overall, those who are behind rent between March, 2020 and August, 2021 will not be evicted. That means those who are behind rent from September, 2021 can be evicted
• covid19.nj.gov/pages/renter
• This law specifies restriction on reporting of rent collection matter to credit bureau companies/debt collecting agencies
• Meantime, landlord can pursue money judgement for any due rent

New Jersey will not extend the additional UI payment beyond 9/4/2021

(Korea Times   8/31)

• NJ Government officially announced that they will cease the additional UI payment of $300 per week. By this decision, about 500,000 NJ residents will not continue to receive the additional $300 per week from the 2^nd week of September
• PUA for independent contractors, 1099 receivers, will be also ceased from the 2nd week of September
• NJ was spending about $301.4M per week to support the coronavirus related additional payment for unemployment

Hackensack Medical Center and Englewood Hospital won’t give up their merge 

(Kore Times   8/31)

• NJ Court issued the preliminary Injunction Order for their merger on Sep 4^th which blocked the plan. They have announced their merger plan around the end of 2019, but FTC filed the suit against their merger plan
• Two hospitals will appeal the court decision and proceed with the merger plan. The FTC is concerned that the medical services can be degraded if two hospitals become one

Homes Prices Hit Record Growth in June

(WSJ 9/1)

• Home-price growth climbed to a record in June, as robust demand continued to outpace the number of homes on the market. The S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller National Home Index rose 18.6% in the year that ended in June, up from a 16.8% annual rate the prior month. June marked the highest annual rate of price growth since the index began in 1987
• Since June, the housing-market frenzy has slowed slightly, though the prices continue to rise at a rapid pace. The median existing-home sales price in July rose 17.8% from a year earlier to $359,900, NAR said earlier in August
• Pending home sales, an indicator of activity in the months to come, fell 1.8% in July from June, the 2nd straight monthly decline, NAR said Monday. The housing market typically slows after the summer, as families often try to move before the start of the school year

Home Flipping becomes Virtual Reality

(WSJ   8/31)

• We now know a workforce can function remotely, though the risk to companies is that there are downstream costs to that convenience. A similar risk is increasingly being taken by online real-estate platform using computerized algorithms to automate a nearly $2T industry with just about 1% online penetration today
• The concept of using technology to flip homes was initially met with skepticism: there was the open question of whether consumer would trust such a process with their most valuable possessions. When Zillow said it was going big on iBuying in 2019, roughly 90% of home buyers and sellers were still using an agent.  The pandemic seems to has dispelled some of those doubts as technology become a necessity rather than an option in many cases. In the end, things like virtual showings proved to be not only viable but often preferable, enabling consumers to avoid the hassle and cost of open house
• iBuying(Zillow): After pausing their operations in the spring last year, iBuyers have been on a buying spree, enabled by increasingly virtual capabilities. Zillow said its home purchases more than doubled on a sequential basis in the 2^nd Qt
• Offerpad: is expected to close this quarter, bought over 2000 homes in the 2^nd Qt
• Redfin: It bought 40% more homes in the 2ndQt than it did in all of 2020
• Opendoor: Trumping them all, the market leader purchased nearly 8,500 homes in 2^nd Qt and ended the period with contracts to acquire 8,158 more, representing $3B in value. It is now in 41 markets – more than double that of Offerpad – viewing diversity as both an opportunity and a hedge

Governor Hochul is Set to Call a Special Session to Extend the Eviction Moratorium

(NYT  9/1)

• Governor is expected to call state law makers back to Albany to consider extending the statewide moratorium, which expires on Tuesday, to as far as mid-January, according to four people familiar with the matter
• More than 800,000 households statewide are behind on rent, most of them low-income people and people of color, according to one analysis of census data from late June and early July. The $2.7B in rent aid, which comes mostly from deferral pandemic relief packages, is meant to help low-income renters avoid evictions.  The aid can cover up to 12 months unpaid rent, three months of future rent and utility bills. The payments go straight to landlords
• Last week, Ms. Hochul announced that the state would invest an additional $1M in marketing and outreach efforts to raise awareness about the rent relief program and get more people apply. She also ordered “a rapid review” of the program’s work flow and reassigned 100 contracted staff to work solely on pending applications and accelerate payments

Revenue Rises at Most of S&P 500

(WJ  8/30)

• More than three-quarters of the largest U.S. companies reported higher revenue than before Covid-19, according to WSJ analysis, indicating that many have adapted to changing business conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic

• Among the companies in the S&P 500, 213 have reported revenue for the calendar year’s second quarter above 2019 levels after a drop in 2020. Another 153 have had second-quarter revenue in each of the past two years that exceeded 2019
• Roughly a third of the S&P index have seen steady or rapid growth during the pandemic. Semi-conductor, retail including online and pharmaceutical companies fared the best compared with other sectors
• The consumer-services sector had the largest decline in second-quarter 2021 revenues from the same period of 2019. It was largely dragged down by companies related to travel and tourism

Others/Tech News: SamSung announced Galaxy Z fold 3/ Z Flip 3

• -SamSung will start sales in 40 counties worldwide
• -In Korea, 270,000 phones are activated in one day
• -In USA, pre-orders exceed the entire Galaxy Z series