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.
Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 367.29 points, or 2.1%, to 17,128.55. The S&P 500 index fell 36.34 points, or 1.8%, to 2,005.55. The NASDAQ composite sank 79.47 points, or 1.6%, to 4,923.08. All 10 Standard & Poor’s 500 sectors fell.
U.S. crude fell 22 cents to $34.73 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, slipped 18 cents to $36.88 a barrel in London. Natural gas, which has sunk to 16-year lows as demand fell, picked up 1.2 cents to $1.767 per 1,000 cubic feet. Wholesale gasoline rose 1.3 cents to $1.275 a gallon and heating oil inched up to $1.107 a gallon.
Unemployment rates fall in 27 US states amid broad hiring — Unemployment rates fell in more than half of U.S. states in November as employers stepped up hiring. The Labor Department said Friday that jobless rates fell in 27 states, rose in 11, and were unchanged in 12 states. Employers added jobs in 35 states, while employment fell in 14. Montana’s job total was flat last month. The widespread improvement suggests employers in most parts of the country are confident enough to hire more. Nationwide, the economy generated a robust 211,000 jobs last month and the U.S. unemployment rate remained 5 per cent, a 7-year low.
House Approves Bill to End Tax-Free Real Estate Spinoffs “Wall Street may have to come up with a new strategy to replace a type of deal that has been popular among activist investors and companies. On Thursday, the House of Representatives approved legislation including provisions that would remove the tax advantages of spinning off corporate real estate into a separate, publicly traded real estate investment trust. The end of such tax-free spinoffs will generate $1.9 billion in additional tax revenue in the coming years.” (New York Times)
Abu Dhabi, Canada Funds Buy U.S. Properties for $3.15 Billion “A unit of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, one of the largest Canadian pension investment managers, purchased 209 U.S. industrial properties from Exeter Property Group for $3.15 billion. The buildings have 58 million square feet (5.4 million square meters) of space and are located in 25 markets throughout the U.S., according to a statement Thursday.” (Bloomberg)
U.S. Banking Regulators Step Up Rhetoric on Commercial Real Estate Loans “U.S. banking regulators ramped up their rhetoric on risky commercial real estate lending, signaling they may crack down next year on banks they view as inadequately managing risks associated with the fast-growing lending category. Three federal banking agencies issued a joint statement on prudent risk management in commercial real estate, saying they “will continue to pay special attention to potential risks” from the lending in 2016.” (Wall Street Journal)
Mortgage Rates Higher for Second Week, Freddie Mac Says “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.97% in the December 17 week, up 2 basis points from the prior week. A year ago, those mortgages averaged 3.80%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.22%, up from 3.19% last week and 3.09% a year ago. The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage was unchanged at an average 3.03%.” (MarketWatch)
Norway Wealth Fund Names Kallevig CEO of Real Estate Group “The world’s biggest wealth fund named Karsten Kallevig as chief executive officer of its real estate group. Kallevig has served as chief investments officer for the group. He joined as head of property investments in 2010 and has since built a 159 billion-krone ($18 billion) portfolio. The $840 billion fund in July created a specific group to oversee real estate as it targets more direct management of assets.” (Bloomberg)
Data Centers: Where Big Data Meets Real Estate “Which of the many technology companies should you bet on as an investor? As the next big thing becomes outdated faster than you can swipe a smartphone, it’s not always easy to predict which specific company will have staying power. But one thing we can probably agree on is that high-tech, including cloud computing, is a pretty solid bet, given that it undergirds pretty much everything we do these days — and it can even be an environmentally friendly move as well.” (Forbes)
Single-Family Housing Starts Reach Seven-Year High in U.S. “According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department, U.S. housing starts nationwide rose 10.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.173 million units in November. Single-family production increased 7.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 768,000 units, its highest reading since January 2008. Multifamily production rose 16.4 percent to 405,000 units.” (World Property Journal)
The Next Real Estate Tycoon? “Real estate investing is no game—until now. A new game, available on Android and iOS, allows players to invest in a selection of 50 million real properties around the world. Landlord Real Estate Tycoon is a Monopoly-style game, where users can purchase venues they visit, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building, and earn rent on those properties. Investors are limited to buying properties within 800 miles of their actual location, using geolocation technology.” (WealthManagement.com)
Forest City Suing Restaurant Group for $1.1M in Unpaid Rent “Forest City Ratner is suing the guarantors of a Times Square restaurant that it claims has it failed to pay more than $1 million in rent, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court. The Downtown Brooklyn-based real estate development firm brought suit against Jacob and Solomon Ben Moha of Benmoha Restaurant Group, who are guarantors to the Liberty Diner in Times Square.” (The Real Deal)
Step Up Your Building Security Game “From active shooters to bomb threats, stories highlighting compromised commercial buildings have dominated the airwaves in recent months. Yet many buildings still don’t have plans on how to respond to security incidents and natural disasters, reports Randy Cone, who leads Transwestern’s facility management services in Dallas.” (Bisnow)