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.
Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average edged down 34.72 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 17,705.91. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 1.55 points to 2,058.69. The NASDAQ composite index rose 14.05 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 4,750.21.
U.S. crude fell $1.22, or 2.7 per cent, to $43.44 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, fell $1.74, or 3.8 per cent, to $43.63 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline fell 5 cents to $1.443 a gallon, heating oil fell 5 cents to $1.286 a gallon and natural gas was little changed at $2.098 per thousand cubic feet.
US stocks finish a little higher as health care jumps — U.S. stocks finished just a bit higher Monday as gains for drug companies were almost cancelled by sharp losses for metals and energy companies. Coming off two weeks of losses, stocks traded in a narrow range. Drug company stocks, which have been under pressure recently over concerns they’ll have trouble raising prices for medicines, moved sharply higher. The energy market was shaken up and the price of oil fell as Saudi Arabia replaced its oil minister. Metals companies tumbled on renewed worries about China’s economy.
Are Trump and Bernie Right? What That Means for Real Estate “No wonder voters are angry. Either they lost good jobs or they can’t find any. Especially in the South. The textiles and clothing industry of South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama was almost wiped out. A lot of jobs disappeared in the Northeast and Midwest too, in steel and machinery, in electrical and plastic products, even a million jobs lost making computers. But what’s the cure?” (Forbes)
Penney to expand major appliances to half of its stores — J.C. Penney says it will start to sell major appliances online and expand its rollout of the category to nearly 500 stores, or almost half of its stores, this summer. The move comes after a successful test of offering major appliances such as washing machines and refrigerators in 22 markets in February. Penney got out of the major appliance business more than 30 years ago. Penney also said Monday that that it exceeded its own goal for one measure of profit. Its shares edged up in midday trading Monday.
This Mall CEO Thinks Gap and Abercrombie Need to Close a Ton More Stores “A word of advice to execs at Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch -- you are still too big to be highly profitable, so keep closing stores. That matter-of-fact guidance comes compliments of General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani, who has been leading the operator of 131 mostly A-rated U.S. malls since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2011.” (The Street)
Zip Codes with the Biggest Boom Towns “Each of the following 10 ZIP codes has seen one to five times the average job growth of the top 100 counties in the country, one to seven times the average growth of households and one to six times the average growth of housing starts. The continued growth in households over the next five years for each of these markets is projected to be 9 to 19 percent.” (CNBC)
Gap sales slide in April, retailer gives downbeat outlook — Gap shares tumbled in after-hours trading Monday after the struggling retailer reported worse-than-expected sales, issued a profit warning for the first quarter, and announced that it is mulling options for its business outside North America. The San Francisco-based retailer said that sales in April at stores open at least a year — a key metric of a retailer’s health — fell 7 per cent. That fell short of analyst expectations for growth of 0.5 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters.
Home Prices Are Up in Nearly 9 Out of 10 Cities “Single-family home prices rose in 87% of metro areas in the first quarter of the year, more than the 81% recorded in the first three months of 2015, just another sign of a housing market in which demand is crushing supply. Across the country, the national median price for a previously-owned single-family home was $217,000, up 6.3% compared to a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.” (MarketWatch)
Billionaire Reinmann Family Adding Krispy Kreme to its Empire “After building a coffee empire ranging from Portland’s hipster Stumptown Coffee Roasters to single-serve mainstay Keurig, the Reimann’s JAB Holding Co. investment company, wants its growing stable of consumer brands to add some high-calorie oomph: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. The $1.35 billion deal, announced Monday, puts the intensely private Reimann clan -- Wolfgang, Stefan, Renate and Matthias -- on a potential collision course with Krispy Kreme’s rival of the moment, the mighty Starbucks Corp.” (Bloomberg)
The Real Estate Chiefs Who Get Paid the Most “CEO pay may be increasingly coming under the microscope these days, but real estate’s top NYC executives are still raking it in. Although public companies are changing their compensation models to ensure that CEOs don’t get monster pay packages while their companies’ finances falter, so far pay reductions have remained largely at bay. This month The Real Deal combed through disclosures filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to find out just how much some of the industry’s top-paid chiefs are bringing home.” (The Real Deal)
Home Builders Say They Are Squeezed by Rising Compliance Costs “The average cost for home builders to comply with regulations for new home construction has increased by nearly 30% over the last five years, according to new research from the National Association of Home Builders. Regulatory costs such as local impact fees, storm-water discharge permits and new construction codes, which have risen at roughly the same rate as the average price for new homes, make it increasingly difficult for builders to pursue affordable single-family construction projects, the group argues.” (Wall Street Journal)
How Your Real Estate Assets Can Provide a Big Payoff to Charity “With the richest men in the world such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg giving away their fortunes, you may wonder whether you have similar options and what the tax benefits would be. Chase Magnuson, director of the Planned Giving Department-Real Estate at George Washington University and co-author of ‘The Secret Power Behind Real Estate Donations,’ said giving away property can be tricky if not done correctly.” (The Washington Post)
Tech, Healthcare Tenants Driving Growth in the Office Sector “According to a new report from CBRE Group, the overall U.S. national office property market recovery slowed slightly in the first quarter of 2016 amid financial market volatility. However, as financial markets stabilized later in the quarter, office-using job growth accelerated, likely signaling stronger tenant demand in the months ahead.” (World Property Journal)
Yardi Matrix: Orlando’s Economic Boom “Buoyed by record tourism numbers and strong job growth, Orlando‘s economy is booming. Along with significant population gains, those are ingredients for a healthy multifamily market, which is seeing strong rent growth, increasing development and record transaction activity. Tourism and business conferences remain pillars of Orlando’s economy, but the economic landscape is increasingly diversifying.” (Commercial Property Executive)
Treasury Secretary hopes to jump-start help for Puerto Rico — Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew travelled to Puerto Rico to get a first-hand look at the impact of the area’s $70 billion debt crisis. The Obama administration hopes to jump-start congressional efforts to aid the U.S. territory, and Lew’s one-day trip focused attention on how the 3.5 million residents of the island are struggling with the worsening financial situation. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. Lew said Puerto Rico’s problems are a human crisis as well as financial, such as infants and children unable to get medical care. Lew said he didn’t think there was a member of Congress who would find the conditions acceptable.
US creating pink commemorative coin to fund cancer research — U.S. officials are developing a new, pink commemorative coin to promote breast cancer awareness and raise money for cancer research, said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who sponsored legislation for its creation. The coin is expected to be released in 2018. It will be part of a set of three new coins aimed at promoting breast cancer awareness and help fund research to find a cure for the disease. The Treasury Department will create 50,000 pink-gold $5 coins.