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 added 56.32 points, or 0.3%, to 17,946.68. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.82 of a point, or 0.04%, to 2,101.49. The NASDAQ composite lost 31.68 points, or 0.6%, to 5,080.51.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 7 cents to close at $59.63 a barrel in New York. It finished last week at $59.61 and it has traded roughly between $57 and $61 since late April. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 6 cents to close at $63.26 in London. Wholesale gasoline rose 1.2 cents to close at $2.049 a gallon. Heating oil rose 0.1 cents to close at $1.863 a gallon. Natural gas fell 7.7 cents to close at $2.773 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Global Real Estate Capital Raising Reaches Pre-Crisis Levels—INREV “Global capital raised for non-listed real estate investment is back to pre-crisis levels, according to INREV. The European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles found a 27.5% rise in capital raised last year.” (IP Real Estate)
GE Health Care Lender Receives Bids from Capital One, Apollo “Capital One Financial Corp. and Apollo Global Management have made offers for General Electric Co.’s health-care finance unit, which could fetch more than $11 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said. Ares Management LP and Ventas Inc. also bid for the unit, which offers mortgages and business loans to nursing homes and other health-care providers.” (Bloomberg)
Two to Tango for Blackstone’s Billion Dollar Investa Bid “With less than two weeks to go until final bids for the $9 billion Investa Property Group, Blackstone, one of the two contenders currently without a partner, is set to form a joint venture with CBRE Global Investors.” (AFR Weekened)
Apartment Sales Volume Surges 22% in May “After plummeting 37% year over year in April, apartment sales jumped 22% in May as the multifamily industry posted $9.1 billion worth of sales volume, according to New York-based commercial real estate data and analytics firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA).” (Multifamily Executive)
Manhattan Land Plot to be Sold for Double 2011 Price “Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities LLC agreed to sell land on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue for $275 million, almost double the price the firm paid for the property in 2011, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement.” (Bloomberg)
Economists: Home Builders Neglecting Entry Level Market “Nela Richardson, chief economist for brokerage Redfin Corp., and Selma Hepp, chief economist for Zillow Group’s Trulia real-estate website, both said builders aren’t constructing enough entry-level housing to meet demand. They’re focusing more of their resources instead, the economists said, on building pricey homes for buyers with ample credit.” (The Wall Street Journal)
New Analysis Shows Fannie Mae Didn’t Need a Dime “A new forensic analysis of Fannie Mae history indicates that Fannie Mae didn't need any money. Part of this forensic analysis was included in the Iowa suit in their filings. If this paper is right, the entire conservatorship is illegal and Fannie is worth more than Ackman's highest estimate of $47. If wrong, Fannie is potentially worth $0.” (Seeking Alpha)
GE Keeps Looking for New Home as Connecticut Backtracks on Tax Hike “GE formed a committee to explore relocating its headquarters from Fairfield, its home for the past 41 years, after the state legislature approved a so-called unitary tax this month that would not only have placed levies on income earned outside the state but would have been retroactive as well. The committee, which CEO Jeff Immelt said in a memo would seek a more business-friendly home, is continuing to look, GE said on Thursday.” (The Street)
Port Authority Renegotiates $1-a-Year NJ Transit Lease to $875K “The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says it has reached agreement on a lease for a park-and-ride lot near the Lincoln Tunnel that once went for $1 a year. Authority chairman John Degnan on Thursday said a tentative agreement has been reached with New Jersey Transit. The lease will pay the Port Authority $875,000 per year if it receives final approval from both agencies.” (Crain’s New York Business)
Give the U.S. Commercial Real Estate Industry the Green Light to Grow the Economy “We need a new national strategy that incorporates innovative funding solutions to enhance and improve our nation’s infrastructure. These kinds of transportation and infrastructure projects are the lifeblood of commercial real estate.” (The Hill)
Survey: Consumer sentiment up to highest level since January - Consumer sentiment rose this month to the highest level since January, suggesting that spending will strengthen this year. The University of Michigan says its consumer sentiment index rose to 96.1 this month from 90.7 in May. The June reading was the highest since January’s 98.1. The index is up from 82.5 a year ago.For the first six months of 2015, consumer optimism improved at the fastest pace since 2004, three years before the Great Recession, said Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Michigan survey. (NY Times)
Your face on your espresso? Highlights from tech show - Imagine staring deep into the foam of your favourite espresso drink and seeing a face looking back at you. Or how about using the charge in your fingers to clean your teeth? At the CE Week gadget show in New York this week, there were several standouts amid the sea of smartphone chargers and 3-D printers. Some are set to hit stores near you in the not-too-distant future. (ABC)