Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.
Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 204.91 points, or 1.3%, to 15,666.44. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 25.60 points, or 1.4%, to 1,867.61. The NASDAQ composite declined 19.76 points, or 0.4%, to 4,506.49.
U.S. crude rose $1.07 to close at $39.31 in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, gained 52 cents to close at $43.21 in London. Wholesale gasoline fell 1.8 cents to close at $1.535 a gallon. Heating oil edged up a fraction of a cent at $1.395 a gallon. Natural gas rose 3.5 cents to close at $2.685 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Partnership Between Uber and U A Announced - At this morning's news conference, the app-driven ride service Uber announced that it will be partnering with the University of Arizona to help develop mapping technology for self-driving cars. Arizona dignitaries, including Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Gov. Doug Ducey, were on hand to announce the partnership, which includes $25,000 for the College of Optical Sciences to develop new lens technology. Headquartered in San Francisco, Uber service is available in 58 countries and 300 cities.
US home prices rise steadily in June as sales pick up — U.S. home prices rose solidly in June, another sign of health in the housing market.The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5 per cent from a year earlier, a slight improvement on May’s 4.9 per cent increase, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Prices rose 10.2 per cent in Denver, 9.5 per cent in San Francisco and 8.2 per cent in Dallas. Chicago posted the smallest gain, just 1.4 per cent. (News Advance)
US new-home sales rebound in July — Americans stepped up their purchases of new homes in July, with sales surging in the Northeast. The Commerce Department says new-home sales rose 5.4 per cent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 507,000, recovering from a slide in purchases in June. Buyers have crowded into the housing market this year. Backed by solid job growth over the past two years and relatively low mortgage rates, sales of new homes jumped 21.2 per cent through the first half of 2015, although the government sales report is volatile on a monthly basis. (Yahoo)
US consumer confidence shows sharp rebound in August — U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in August to the strongest reading in seven months after having fallen sharply in July. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its index of consumer confidence increased to 101.5 in August, up from a revised July reading of 91.0. It was the best showing since January. Conference Board economist Lynn Franco says that consumers’ assessment of current conditions was considerably more upbeat in August, primarily due to a more favorable view of the labor market. (Yahoo)
Firm Pays $200 Million for Majority Stake in St. John's Terminal, Eyes Big Redevelopment “A sprawling building, ripe for development and seen as a savior to the decaying Pier 40, now has a single controlling owner for the first time in years.” (Crain’s New York Business)
In Demand: Top Cities for Multi-Family Rentals “The demand for rental housing is increasing nationwide, with more and more people turning to renting in America’s largest cities. A combination of factors – including limited inventory levels, declining vacancy rates and continued job growth – have pushed rental prices up by 6.5 percent over the past year, to reach a record high of $1,155 in July 2015.” (Commercial Property Executive)
Belk Agrees to Be Bought by Sycamore for About $2.7 Billion “Belk Inc., the 127-year-old department-store chain concentrated in the southern U.S., agreed to be acquired by Sycamore Partners for about $2.7 billion in cash.” (Bloomberg)
Barclays: Fed Unlikely to Hike Before March 2016 “The Federal Reserve's first rate hike will likely occur in March of next year amid financial volatility and uncertainty surrounding growth in emerging markets, according to Barclays.” (CNBC)
Northeast Ohio's Retail Gluttony: Old Malls Rot While New Shopping Centers Sprawl “Even as vacancy climbs at Northeast Ohio shopping centers, ambitious developers are culling new land in far-out suburbs to build more shopping space.” (Cleveland.com)
Chinese-Americans Spent $105.1 Billion on U.S. Real Estate in 2014 “According to a new report by Juwai.com, Chinese-Americans outspent offshore (mainland Chinese) buyers of US real estate by nearly 5 to 1 in 2014. Chinese-Americans invested $105.5 billion in US real estate, compared to the $22 billion invested by Mainland Chinese.” (World Property Journal)
The Sidewalk Shed, a Ubiquitous New York Eyesore, Gets a Makeover “Zaha Hadid has designed some of the most remarkable buildings of this generation. Whether a striking factory for BMW, daring Olympic venues or museums in Rome, Glasgow and Cincinnati, the work of the Iraqi-born, London-based Ms. Hadid has brought her global renown and a Pritzker Prize, considered architecture’s Nobel Prize.” (New York Times)
3 Retail Stocks That Are Great Bargains Now “What goes down often comes back up, at least when it comes to the right kinds of companies and stocks.” (The Street)
Green Bonds Grow Up “‘Impact’ investors, those interested in environmental, social or governance issues, are finding increasingly fertile ground in green bonds.” (Wealth Management)
C&W Makes History in Tampa Industrial Market “High Street Realty has acquired the Tampa Distribution Center, a 955,000-square-foot industrial campus in Tampa, from MetLife Real Estate Investors.” (Commercial Property Executive)