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.
Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 40.27 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 18,162.35. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 2.95 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 2,141.34. The NASDAQ composite index slid 4.58 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 5,241.83.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.17, or 2.3 per cent, to close at $50.43 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slid $1.29, or 2.4 per cent, to close at $51.38 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $1.49 a gallon. Heating oil slid 3 cents to $1.56 a gallon. Natural gas lost 3 cents to $3.14 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Film Fest Tucson Oct. 20- 23, 2016 is a destination film festival, a place for filmmakers and audiences to meet, discover and experience unique and important stories told on film. The festival is for the community of Southern Arizona, as well as for visitors to the region to experience the unique environment, heritage and culture of Tucson and the surrounding area, while seeing new and important films. Programming at Film Fest Tucson includes both short and feature-length narrative and documentary films that have been selected for their quality, timeliness and subject matter. With a strong interest in presenting work by emerging as well as established filmmakers, Film Fest Tucson has some of the best audiences on the circuit—educated and savvy film fans who look forward to post screening Q & A’s almost as much as the films themselves. With top quality projection and sound presented in unique venues, panels, parties and some of Tucson’s most iconic experiences like The Arizona Inn, Whiskey del Bac and many others, Film Fest Tucson is the place to be in October.
US claims for unemployment benefits rise by 13,000 — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in five weeks but still remained close to the recent 43-year lows. Weekly applications for jobless benefits rose by 13,000 last week to 260,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Even with last week’s gain, claims, which are a proxy for layoffs, it remains at levels indicating that workers are enjoying job security despite sluggish economic growth. The increase in benefit applications was bigger than economists had been forecasting but some suggested that disruptions in filing applications earlier caused by Hurricane Matthew might have been a factor. (WASHINGTON AP)
US home sales rebounded in September despite tight supply — More Americans bought homes in September, many for the first time, despite a persistent shortage of properties for sale. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales of existing homes rose 3.2 per cent from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million, the strongest pace since June. Sales rose across the country: 5.7 per cent in the Northeast, 5 per cent in the West, 3.9 per cent in the Midwest and 0.9 per cent in the South. Demand for homes is solid but supplies are weak. (WASHINGTON AP)
Average US 30-year mortgage rises to 3.52 per cent — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for a second straight week, reaching their highest levels since June. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.52 per cent from 3.47 per cent last week. But rates still remain near historic lows. The benchmark 30-year rate is down from 3.79 per cent a year ago and close to its all-time low of 3.31 per cent in November 2012. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, popular with homeowners who are refinancing, rose to 2.79 per cent from 2.76 per cent. (WASHINGTON AP)
Yellen May Be Giving the Sign to Buy Hard Assets “In a speech in Boston, Fed Chair Janet Yellen talked about to using monetary policy to run the economy hot. She seems to be willing to tolerate a higher level of inflation than the current Fed objective. Higher inflation is inevitable if the economy is run hot with monetary policy tools. On the surface, it would seem that buying hard assets is the way to go to profit from higher inflation, but under the present economic conditions, investors will want to be highly discriminating.” (MarketWatch)
The $17 Billion Walgreens-Rite Aid Deal Looks Like It’s in Trouble “Traders have lost faith in Walgreens' giant deal to buy Rite Aid. Rite Aid's shares were sliding Wednesday after a report from the New York Post said the supermarket chain Kroger may no longer be interested in acquiring 650 stores from the two companies as part of that deal. Walgreens and Rite Aid would have to sell the stores to gain antitrust approval for the deal.” (Business Insider)
Real Estate Investing: Why REITs Look Risky “REITs face a fixer-upper’s worth of near-term challenges. REITs are essentially landlords, and while a stalling economy wouldn’t be a disaster—REITs tend to be “less volatile than banks,” says Neena Mishra, director of ETF research at Zacks—it would hurt their ability to raise rents. On the other hand, if a stronger-than-expected economy prompts the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, REITs will look less attractive compared with bonds. And some skeptics argue that REITs are already overpriced.” (Fortune)
Why More Companies Are Densifying Office Space “Companies are cutting down on both the size and number of private offices, squeezing in more people through “densification” into large open rooms, and then having small breakout rooms, food areas, telephone quiet areas and conference rooms. ‘The jobs being added are not the senior banker in a corner office,’ says Matthew Barlow, executive vice president at Savills Studley. ‘It’s someone working on a bench at Facebook.’ While benching is not the endgame, the options for a new workplace are, observes Marcus Rayner, vice chairman of Colliers International.” (New York Post)
ABODO: Swing-State Rents on the Rise “In its monthly examination of the changes in the price of a one-bedroom apartment in the nation’s major metros, ABODO notes that nine of the cities where rents increased over the past month are located in eight of Politico’s 11 electoral “swing states”: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The top three metros with the highest rent increases and, overall, seven of the top 10 cities this month were in one of these states.” (Multifamily Executive)
Tepid Construction Rates in September Point to Multifamily Troubles “There has been a substantial dip in the production of U.S. multifamily housing year-over-year, but new construction of single-family units remains strong, according to a new September Census report. Nationwide, 951,000 privately funded multifamily units were completed last month, seasonally adjusted data commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, shows.” (The Real Deal)
Wealthy Shoppers Are Spending More on Almost Everything… Except This “As wealthy shoppers shell out more of their money on fancy cars and travel, luxury handbags and other personal high-end goods are being left behind. According to a new report by Bain and Altagamma, the global luxury goods market is rising 4 percent this year, to 1.08 billion euros. Yet personal luxury goods are one of two categories expected to contract, and are seen falling by 1 percent. Several culprits are contributing to the category's slowdown, including wild currency swings and terror attacks in key fashion cities.” (CNBC)
Savanna Nears Deal to Buy Falchi Building for $255M “Savanna is finalizing a deal to purchase the historic, 658,000-square-foot Falchi Building in Long Island City from Jamestown Properties for north of $255 million, or nearly $400 per square foot, sources told The Real Deal. Sources familiar with the negotiations said the five-story office building at 31-00 47th Avenue is expected to go under contract by the end of this week. The property is 91 percent leased and houses tenants such as Lyft, Astoria Distilling Company, Webline Designs and retailers Doughnut Plant and Juice Press.” (The Real Deal)
PAC Grabs Hines REIT’s Last Retail Property “Preferred Apartment Communities Inc.’s acquisition of the last remaining retail asset of Hines REIT, which is in the process of dissolving, has reached completion with the purchase of Champions Village, a 403,000-square-foot shopping center in Houston. Acting through its wholly owned subsidiary, New Market Properties, PAC snapped up Champions Village for $52 million, wrapping up an eight-property, grocery-anchored portfolio buy from Hines REIT.” (Commercial Property Executive)
A Base Hit With a Ground Ball: Millennium Tower Developer Digs Deeper for its Next Building “Developers of the sinking, leaning Millennium Tower have decided to go in a different direction with their latest development at 706 Mission St., saying in a statement this week that they will consider taking the foundation of their new building all the way down to bedrock. The 45-story condo highrise is already under construction, but developers will now take a look at how best to anchor the building.” (San Francisco Business Times)